The 88th Annual Academy Awards may have spelled success for Leonardo Dicaprio and Sam Smith but it hasn’t done the same for those hoping it would soar on a ratings front.
Why?
Bad news below…
Slammed for its supposed exclusion of actors of colour this year’s ceremony saw its organisers slapped with its lowest ratings in eight years.
The show reached an 8-year low, that’s down 6% from the 24.6/39 that the ceremony got last year in early results from the 56 markets across the country. That 2015 Neil Patrick Harris=hosted Oscars were matched with the 2011 Oscars for the third worst the Academy Awards has done in MM ratings since the last time Rock fronted the gig in 2005 – only 2009’s Hugh Jackman-hosted 23.3 and 2008’s Jon Stewart-hosted 21.9 were lower. Obviously, in the early results, last night’s show dipped below 2009 and close to 2008 numbers.
Last year’s ceremony picked up 37.3 million viewers (one of its lowest figures) with the help of host Neil Patrick Harris but, despite critically lauded performances put on by Chris Rock and Lady Gaga, will be unmatched by this year’s televised outing.
Keep it locked on TGJ to find out what the final figure is when it is published later on today.
Until then, we’ll ask you…
What went wrong?
Update: The ceremony swept up 31.76 million viewers.