Outlets Praise Oscar Telecast Despite 4th Lowest Ratings In History

Sunday night’s Academy Awards resulted in the fourth-lowest viewership in Oscar history, drawing only 19.5 million viewers.

Various mainstream outlets, however, as John Nolte of Breitbart highlighted, refused to report the awards negatively, instead spinning the failure in a more positive light.

Nolte called out the spin, pointing to the fact the Oscar telecast drew 43.7 million viewers back in 2014. And 30 million tuned in to the 2019 broadcast. 

For example, The Hollywood reporter boasted “TV Ratings: Oscars Score Post-Pandemic Highs.”

The Wrap went with the headline “Oscars 2024 Hit 4-Year Viewership High With 19.5 Million.” 

The Academy Awards “marked a four-year high in total viewers,” the outlet reported. “Including a 4% increase compared to the 18.8 million who tuned into the Sunday night telecast in 2023.”

In response to The Wrap’s focus on a four-year high, Nolte wrote “ask yourself what’s missing.”

“You will notice we get all the ‘good news’ about how Sunday’s telecast improved in total viewers over the 2022 and 2023 telecasts,” he continued. “But-but-but where’s the 18-49 comparison to last year? Why is that left out? And why does that last sentence make that 3.81 rating sound like a triumph?”

The Academy Awards have been losing viewers consistently over the past 10 years. Sunday was poised to be a prime opportunity for the telecast to bring in high ratings due to it kicking off an hour earlier than usual, and for including “Oppenheimer,” a wildly beloved blockbuster and the leading contender for Best Picture.

“There was a time when the commerce and art planets always aligned, when movies normal people could actually relate to dominated the Oscar conversation,” Nolte shared. “There was a time when the Oscars were so relevant that a Best Picture nomination blew up that title’s box office. No more.” 

Though many skipped the awards on Sunday, Former President Donald Trump apparently tuned in to live react on Truth Social. Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel read a review of the ceremonies Trump had posted online to the audience. 

Kimmel read all the parts where Trump blasted him for being the worst host, but then notably skipped over the biggest, and perhaps most relatable, critique of the broadcast: “why don’t they just give the Oscars to those who deserve them? Maybe that way their audience and TV ratings will come back from the depths.”

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