Compared to last year, ratings for Academy Awards telecast are down 16 percent. The paltry 18.9 Live+Same Day rating does not yet include the hour where the biggest awards were given out, as The Hollywood Reporter notes. Nonetheless, these numbers do not look good. The awards show earned a 22.4 rating in 2017, which was already a 9-year low.
Last year, 32.9 million viewers tuned in watch the Oscars. The only time the show did worse was back in 2008, when a sad 31.8 million watched. Viewership numbers aren’t in for Sunday night’s three-hour and 50-minute-long telecast, but given the show's lackluster ratings, chances are they could be setting a new record-breaking low.
By the way, it was also the longest-running ceremony since the 2007 Oscars. For comparison’s sake, it may be worth noting that the highest-rated Oscars ceremony was hosted by Chris Rock in 2005. It scored a 30.1 rating. Additionally, the most highly viewed ceremony in the 21st century was fronted by Ellen DeGeneres in 2014, when 43.7 million tuned in to watch the show.
While celebrities like Best Actress winner Frances McDormand and host Jimmy Kimmel took vocal stands on hot-button issues, the awards show itself was not nearly as political as other ones this season. That being said, none of this year’s shows are performing as well as their 2017 predecessors.
Call it the the “Moonlight Effect” or call it bad luck; either way, there’s no denying last year’s Best Picture SNAFU was definitely a blow to the Academy Awards’ credibility. And with the allegedly unoriginal Shape of Water taking the biggest award of the night on Sunday, the Academy certainly isn’t doing itself any favors.
