The 94th Academy Awards saw an increase in viewership after plummeting to an all-time low in 2021, but the show will still go down as the second least-watched Oscar ceremony in history. According to Nielsen’s fast national ratings, Sunday night’s telecast of the Oscars on ABC drew 15.36 million viewers and a 3.2 rating among adults aged 18-49. While this is a 56% increase over last year’s dismal 9.85 million viewers, the downward spiral of the Oscars continues. However, these are still early, unadjusted figures, and the final viewership number could change after all the factors like streaming are taken into account. But that’s unlikely to make a big difference.
In 2019, the Oscars’ viewership hit 29.1 million, and in 2014, the show was watched by nearly 44 million viewers in the United States. Ellen DeGeneres was the host at the time, and Sandra Bullock-starrer Gravity was the big winner (7 awards). To improve the dwindling ratings, the Academy has made several radical changes over the years, like trying a host-free ceremony in 2019.
This year an honorary category (the Oscars fan-favorite) was created, allowing the general public to vote for their favorite films. Critics argued that this was just a ploy to bring more eyes to the show and accommodate commercial films like Spider-Man: No Way Home. But as the ratings have demonstrated, the move didn’t offer much help. Plus, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead bagged the fan-favorite award, with Spider-Man: No Way Home ranking fourth behind Cinderella and Minamata.
If changing the hosts, appeasing the fans, and nominating streaming releases and blockbusters couldn’t help generate interest in the show, there isn’t much left for the Academy to do. And after the several awkward incidents that happened this time, the Academy may have an uphill task to increase the viewing figures next year.
The Oscars Are in the News for All the Wrong Reasons
From triumphant wins of Ariana DeBose, Troy Kotsur, and Jane Campion – who became only the third woman to win the Best Director Award – to a shocking altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock, the 94th academy awards featured several firsts, some worth celebrating and some worth forgetting.
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune was the big winner this time around, winning six awards, including Best Cinematography for Greig Fraser and Best Original Score for Hans Zimmer. But Dune also won in four other technical categories, which were cut from the live broadcast by the Academy. Surprisingly, the show still ran longer than expected. Sundance favorite CODA won the Best Picture Oscar, with Troy Kotsur winning the Best Supporting Actor award, becoming the first deaf actor to win an Oscar.
But the event wasn’t without controversy, which included Amy Schumer’s awkward moment with Kirsten Dunst as she jokingly pushed The Power of the Dog actress out of her chair. But the biggest moment of the night, and perhaps in the Oscars or any other award show’s history, was Will Smith walking upstage, slapping Chris Rock, and screaming profanities on live TV over the comedian’s distasteful jokes about Smith’s wife’s appearance. Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia, an autoimmune condition that causes rapid hair loss, and Chris Rock joked that he looks forward to seeing Jada in G.I. Jane 2. But Will Smith didn’t take the joke lightly.
While Smith and Rock are reported to be on good terms again, the Academy has assured that it won’t let the Independence Day star off the hook so easily. Will Smith, Jada Smith, and Chris Rock have yet to release a statement about the incident.