Oscar Ratings Go Up

It looks like even more people were bored by the Oscar telecast than just me as ABC has announced ratings were up from last year. The 81st Annual Academy Awards now qualifies as the “Most-Watched Entertainment Telecast in 2 years.” Considering how boring the show was during the middle hours I’m surprised it was able to pull out these kind of numbers.

According to ABC the telecast pulled in an average audience of 36.3 million viewers, up from last year’s 32 million. Nearly 68 million people watched the show in the US – this accounts for everyone who watched the show for at least 6 minutes. All of these numbers are based on Nielsen’s “Fast National” next day ratings. The true number will take a week to tally as DVR views, and other factors, need to be taken into account.

Breaking it down Scott Gwin style the ratings looked like this:

• The Oscars outdid the 1/13/09 American Idol premiere of 30.4 million viewers to become the most watched entertainment telecast of the 08-09 season.


• The show was up across all demographics, including a 22% jump in Men 18-34.


• The Oscars were the most watched awards telecast of the season beating the Emmy Awards (24 million), The Golden Globes (21.4 million), and The Grammy Awards (19 million).