Academy Awards Viewership Hit A Record Low This Year

After a night of rousing speeches, historic firsts and stunning red carpet looks from Hollywood’s elite, the Academy Awards viewership numbers are in, and they aren’t pretty.

Viewership of the 90th Oscars, broadcast Sunday evening on ABC, hit a record low at just 26.5 million, according to data from Nielsen. That was down 19.5 percent from 32.9 million viewers who watched the show last year, and fell beneath the previous low of 32 million in 2008.

Producers were wary of a potential drop in viewership leading up the Oscars, saying they hoped the award show would focus on films ― and not on politics ― even amid a months-long conversation about sexual misconduct in the movie industry.

“The Oscars should be a spectacle. Fun and funny and great performances,” Jennifer Todd, a producer of the Academy Awards, told The New York Times in February. “It should also be a giant commercial for the movie business, which we all need to keep going.”

Come Sunday night, host Jimmy Kimmel and a number of other stars paid tribute to the Me Too, Time’s Up, and Never Again movements. Some touched on gender inequality, immigration and gun control, though those topics rarely took center stage.

Source: huffingtonpost