Oscar ratings fall 9%
The 98th Oscars hosted by Conan O’Brien saw a dip in ratings after several years of gains.
The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday said that just under 17.9 million viewers tuned into Sunday’s show, which aired live on ABC and was streamed on Hulu.
The ratings are down 9 percent from last year’s postpandemic high of 19.7 million viewers who tuned in for O’Brien’s inaugural year as host, when “Anora” swept the awards.
The show also yielded a more significant 14 percent decline from last year in viewership from adults aged 18-49. And yet despite the dip in audience, the Oscars are still the No. 1 primetime entertainment telecast of the 2025-2026 season.
The Golden Globes, which aired on CBS in January, drew an audience of 8.7 million viewers which was itself down 7 percent from the year prior. Engagement for the Oscars rose by other metrics, though.
Primetime social impressions went up over 42 percent this year. And there were over 129 million video views on Academy social platforms throughout the night.
Broadcast ratings will no longer be a metric of the success for the Oscars in 2029, when the show moves to YouTube for its 101st awards.
