Deadline is reporting that the Oscars telecast had the lowest ratings in 9 years. There are several reasons for this but the main reason is this: The Oscar ratings are driven by the star system. The bigger the star, the bigger the ratings. So Leonardo DiCaprio drew more people to see him finally win his Oscar last year. 34 million to this year’s 32 million. Not a big leap. Birdman’s year drew 37 million when Neil Patrick Harris hosted. But the real people so many tuned in? American Sniper. It was a massive hit and drew people from all over the country, many of them actually thought it would win Best Picture. It was probably the only one they all saw. That was 37 million. 12 Years a Slave had Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lawrence all in attendance, plus Ellen DeGeneres hosting – 43 million.
Lower than this year was the year No Country for Old Men was favored to win Best Picture. Jon Stewart was the host and the films were critically acclaimed but not exactly big public favorites.
The best thing the Academy can do to jump their ratings is to involve the public more in the movies they choose. They can do that by expanding the slate to ten movies to allow for more genre films. This is something that would solve a lot of their problems with more films directed by women, more films about women – and more films that are rising in popularity, like Deadpool that would have no chance to get nominated otherwise. This seems, overall, a fair compromise.
However, it should be noted that 32 million isn’t that bad considering Trump and his deplorables boycotted the Oscars, politics might have turned some people off and most people watch the highlights on Youtube anyway.
Ratings usually hover between 30 and 40 million. The highest ever recorded was Titanic with a whopping 57 million, which tells you what happens when you put a cultural phenomenon like that in the race. Though many believed these films, many of them with $100 million take, they weren’t quite on that level.
It would be a mistake to give Trump too much credit here. Stupid people will, and that’s something we have to live with in a divided country. I’ve watched a lot of Oscar telecasts and that was one of the best I’ve ever seen. It was a class act all the way through, up to and included the way the mistake was handled at the end.
|
59th |
March |
Platoon |
3 |
39.72 |
25.94 |
Chevy |
|
60th |
April |
The |
3 |
42.04 |
27.80 |
Chevy |
|
61st |
March |
Rain |
3 |
42.77 |
28.41 |
None |
|
62nd |
March |
Driving |
3 |
40.22 |
26.42 |
Billy |
|
63rd |
March |
Dances |
3 |
42.79 |
28.06 |
|
|
64th |
March |
The |
3 |
44.44 |
29.84 |
|
|
65th |
March |
Unforgiven |
3 |
45.84 |
32.85 |
|
|
66th |
March |
Schindler’s |
3 |
46.26 |
31.86 |
Whoopi |
|
67th |
March |
Forrest |
3 |
48.87 |
33.47 |
David |
|
68th |
March |
Braveheart |
3 |
44.81 |
30.48 |
Whoopi |
|
69th |
March |
The |
3 |
40.83 |
25.83 |
Billy |
|
70th |
March |
Titanic |
3 |
57.25 |
35.32 |
|
|
71st |
March |
5:30 p.m. |
Shakespeare |
4 |
45.63 |
28.51 |
|
72nd |
March |
American |
4 |
46.53 |
29.64 |
|
|
73rd |
March |
Gladiator |
3 |
42.93 |
25.86 |
|
|
74th |
March |
A |
4 |
40.54 |
25.13 |
|
|
75th |
March |
Chicago |
3 |
33.04 |
20.58 |
|
|
76th |
February |
The The |
3 |
43.56 |
26.68 |
|
|
77th |
February |
Million |
3 |
42.16 |
25.29 |
|
|
78th |
March |
5:00 p.m. |
Crash |
3 |
38.64 |
22.91 |
|
79th |
February |
The |
3 |
39.92 |
23.65 |
|
|
80th |
February |
No |
3 |
31.76 |
18.66 |
|
|
81st |
February |
Slumdog |
3 |
36.94 |
20.88 |
|
|
82nd |
March |
The |
3 |
41.62 |
24.89 |
|
|
83rd |
February |
The |
3 |
37.9 |
21.2 |
|
|
84th |
February |
5:30 p.m. |
The |
3 |
39.46 |
23.91 |
|
85th |
February |
Argo |
3 |
40.38 |
24.47 |
|
|
86th |
March |
12 |
3 |
43.74 |
24.7 |
|
|
87th |
February |
Birdman |
3 |
37.26 |
20.6 |
|
|
88th |
February |
Spotlight |
3 |
34.43 |
23.4 |
|
|
89th |
February |
Moonlight |
3 |
32.9 |
22.4 |
