Following Will Smith’s shocking slap on Chris Rock the previous year, the ratings for the Oscars 2023 broadcast soared this year.
The 95th Academy Awards telecast, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, drew an average viewership of 18.7 million total viewers and got a 4.0 rating among adults 18 to 49, according to a press release issued by ABC, using preliminary figures from The Nielsen Corporation. Total viewers have increased by 12% from last year, when there were 16.7 million.
According to a press release, the Oscars broadcast beat the Grammys shown on CBS in February (12.5 million viewers) and the Emmys broadcast on NBC in September (5.9 million viewers). After being absent from NBC for a year, the Golden Globes returned in January to 6.3 million people.
The HBO smash The Last of Us’ season 1 finale, which, according to Variety, managed to achieve a series high of its own in terms of viewership, battled with Sunday’s Oscars: An estimated 8.2 million viewers tuned in for the ninth episode.
Although being at a three-year high, this year’s numbers are still among the lowest in Academy Awards history. Variety stated that the biggest ratings came for the 1998 program 55.3 million viewers when James Cameron’s movie Titanic won Best Picture. According to the source, 23.6 million people tuned in for the broadcast’s last audience of more than 20 million viewers in 2020, when Parasite won Best Picture.
According to Deadline, 10.4 million people watched in 2021, the year with the lowest ratings, when there was no host.
Producer and showrunner for the Oscars Glenn Weiss discussed his expectations for the viewership figures with The Hollywood Reporter following the ceremony on Sunday night.
You can only hope, you know. In order to achieve our goal, we set out to put on a performance that audiences would enjoy and speak about, he stated. “We believe we succeeded in doing that. Although I sincerely hope that [Monday] brings excellent ratings news, I believe that the evening was a success.
Weiss went on to say that he is proud of “the entire night” and lauded 55-year-old Kimmel for his third consecutive hosting job.
“First of all, Jimmy did a fantastic job, in my opinion. He kept the concert going, but he also made sure it was fun and amusing enough to avoid feeling overly serious. We were certainly taken on a ride by the victors throughout the evening. While we thought it was heading one way, it suddenly changed course. The speeches were heartfelt and emotional.
