Oscars viewership drops to 18.1 million, marking the first decline in 4 years

A small setback at the House of Mouse: Just under 18.1 million viewers tuned in to Sunday’s 97th Academy Awards on ABC, a 7% drop from last year’s telecast.

The viewership decline, measured by combining Nielsen measurement with livestream figures from Disney-owned streamer Hulu, marks the first audience drop-off for the show in a few years. Last year’s telecast drew 19.5 million viewers, a slight jump from 18.8 million viewers in 2023. With that said, Sunday’s viewership was still higher than the 16.6 million viewers it saw in 2022, and the record low 10.4 million viewers who tuned in in 2021 amid the pandemic.

While overall Oscars viewership declined slightly, this year’s telecast saw a 3% YoY increase in adults ages 18 to 49, according to a Disney press release. This year’s audience marked the highest turnout since 2020 for adults between the ages of 18 and 34, according to the company.

Now buffering: This year’s audience may have been boosted by the program’s first-time livestream on Hulu, but the stream faced significant issues. Viewers reported glitches around the start of the stream, and there were technical issues affecting Hulu logins. Some viewers’ streams cut out toward the end of the program, before the best actress and best picture awards were presented.

Not alone: Awards show viewership has declined this year for other telecasts, not just the Oscars, which is also often higher than that of other awards shows. February’s Grammys telecast drew 15.4 million viewers, a 9% drop from last year’s Grammys audience. CBS’s Golden Globes, meanwhile, brought in 9.3 million viewers in January, a 2% decrease from the 2024 telecast.