Oscars audience shrinks despite star-packed ceremony

Approximately 17.9 million people watched the ceremony on Sunday, where political thriller “One Battle After Another,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, won the top prize at Hollywood’s most prestigious awards event, News.Az reports, citing AFP.

The total audience included viewers from both the ABC broadcast network and the streaming platform Hulu, which are owned by Disney.

The 98th Academy Awards were hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien and featured musical performances paying tribute to the Netflix hit “K-Pop Demon Hunters” and the box-office success “Sinners,” directed by Ryan Coogler.

Michael B. Jordan won the Best Actor award for his dual role as twin brothers Smoke and Stack in “Sinners,” beating expectations that Timothée Chalamet would win for his role in “Marty Supreme.”

The ceremony also included an extended “In Memoriam” segment honoring actor Robert Redford, highlighted by a rare live performance from Barbra Streisand.

Oscar viewership, which once regularly reached 40 million viewers, dropped sharply to 10.4 million during the pandemic in 2021. Since then, audience numbers had been gradually recovering until this year’s decline.

In 2025, when Sean Baker’s “Anora” won Best Picture, the broadcast saw higher engagement due to expanded streaming access across mobile devices and computers.

This year’s drop reflects a broader trend across major awards shows, including the Golden Globes and the Grammys, which also recorded declining audiences.

The telecast also competed with the World Baseball Classic semi-finals, where the United States defeated the Dominican Republic.

Looking ahead, the Oscars ceremony will move to an exclusive broadcast on YouTube starting in 2029.