The 92nd Oscars aired last night and as many expected, the ratings were a big disappointment. In addition the show being very long and mostly uneventful, one of the major reasons behind the rating decline is due to the lack of diversity in the nominees—which is why #OscarsSoWhite was once again trending this year.
For the second year in a row, the annual Oscars ceremony had no host, although many praised Chris Rock and Steve Martin for the funny monologues on stage and felt that they should have hosted the entire show. Perhaps if they did, the ratings would be much better than they actually were. @HollywoodReporter details that once again, the award show celebrating the biggest movies in Hollywood was a major ratings fail—and this time the numbers fell to an all-time low.
The Oscars, which aired for over three hours, only averaged about 23.6 million viewers and a 5.3 rating among adults 18-49, well below the 29.56 million and 7.7 for last year’s awards. This year’s ceremony was down 20% compared to last year and 31% in the key demo of adults 18-49.
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Additionally, the 2020 Oscars also fell well below the previous lowest rated ceremony, which was back in 2018. The 2018 show averaged 26.54 million viewers and a 6.8 rating in the demo, this year’s show was down 11% in viewers from 2018 and 22% in adults 18-49 from the same year.
Despite intense criticism and backlash on social media for lack of diversity among nominees, the Oscars still don’t seem to understand that the continued ratings slide is due to this very issue. If certain groups don’t feel they are represented in the nominated categories, they will not tune in—and they have consistently been doing just that for the last few years.
This ratings slide for awards shows is also present in the recent Grammy and Emmy awards, as both show’s also saw record low numbers for their recent broadcasts.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
