A lively Oscar ceremony fueled by two bonafide best picture-nominated blockbusters, “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie,” helped propel the ABC broadcast to its biggest audience since 2020.
The 96th Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood was watched on ABC by an average audience of 19.5 million viewers, a 4% increase from 2023, according to Nielsen data. Last year's broadcast attracted an average audience of 18.7 million.
The ratings performance marks the third consecutive year the Oscars have grown since hitting an all-time low of 10.5 million viewers in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Oscars telecast is usually the highest-rated non-sports program of the year, but it no longer has 30 million or more viewers like it once did. The trend of younger consumers watching video clips online has driven down ratings for all live awards shows in recent years.
Audiences also tune out when academy voters celebrate smaller art films that aren't well known to the general television audience.
But this year's ceremony, whose emcee was ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, had a double box-office success with “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” to its credit. The two films had a combined worldwide box office of $2.4 billion.
The decision to move the start of the broadcast to 4 pm Pacific time apparently didn't hurt. The show ended around 10:30 p.m. for East Coast viewers, who in previous years had to wait until midnight to watch the best picture award.
The start of the broadcast was delayed five minutes as pro-Palestinian protesters blocked traffic and forced some attendees to get out of their black cars and head to the theater on foot.
The program had two moments worth mentioning. A nearly naked John Cena appeared in a comedic tribute to the jogger who ran across the stage at the 1974 Oscars ceremony. Cena was presenting the award for costume design.
Ryan Gosling's highly anticipated performance of “I'm Just Ken” from “Barbie” was a huge triumph, thanks in part to a surprise appearance by Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash.
The acting categories were presented individually by five previous winners, giving the show a chance to fill the stage with more star power.
As expected, “Oppenheimer” was the big winner of the night, taking home seven trophies, including best picture. The film's director Christopher Nolan, lead actor Cilian Murphy and supporting actor Robert Downey Jr. were all honored.
The lead actress turned to Emma Stone for her performance in “Poor Things.” Da'Vine Joy Randoph won in the supporting actress category for “The Holdovers.”
