I’ve been covering the Oscars and all awards shows for more than a decade, and they’ve all been in decline when it comes to viewership. There will be a spike here and there, sometimes in competitive years, sometimes when there’s one big crowd-pleasing favorite film or show. But overall, people just are not tuning into the Oscars, the Golden Globes or the Emmys like they used to. Blame it on generational shifts, blame it on the fractured media/entertainment landscape, blame it on the fact that none of these awards shows NEED to be as long as they are, I don’t know. What I do know is that I enjoyed the 2020 Oscars more than I have in a while, and that’s because Parasite swept and it was an absolute joy to watch my favorite movie of the awards season clean up. Still, I enjoyed the telecast in spite of the poor production choices, like the endless f–king montages and boring musical numbers. Turns out, people really did check out of the Oscars this year:
The Academy Awards plummeted to an all-time ratings low with the 2020 telecast, drawing 3 million fewer viewers than the previous bottom in 2018. Sunday’s broadcast on ABC, according to Nielsen figures, earned 23.6 million viewers — a sharp 20 percent decline from the 2019 ceremony. The show also dropped 31 percent in the ad sales demographic of adults age 18 to 49, Deadline reports. That ratings slide follows an uptick in 2019, when the Oscars expanded its reach for the first time since 2014.
The drop in viewership also hit other award shows this season. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox’s Emmys broadcast in September dropped by 32 percent overall; though not as steep, January’s Golden Globes and Grammy Awards broadcasts fell by four percent and six percent, respectively.
The 2020 Academy Awards, which stretched out to over three-and-a-half hours, was the second-straight ceremony to not feature a traditional host. The show featured an opening musical number from Janelle Monáe, a surprise performance from Eminem and a monologue featuring Steve Martin and Chris Rock. In a viral moment from his Best Actor acceptance speech for Joker, Joaquin Phoenix rallied viewers to “fight against injustice.”
Conservatives trolls are making the case that the 2020 Oscars were “woke” and that’s why people tuned out. Like… there are a million other reasons, you know? The Oscars were crazy-early this year. We already knew who would win all of the acting categories. Not enough people saw Parasite, so there wasn’t this massive cultural conversation of Parasite being worthy. And on and on. Anyway, I enjoyed the Oscar Feast of Bong Joon-ho and it was the BEST end to this year’s awards season. Long live the Bong Hive.
basically bong joon told americans to learn how to read and choke on a peach and they said yes please thank you sir and gave him four oscars this is absolutely legend pic.twitter.com/HWxw6CDUpq
— E. Alex Jung (@e_alexjung) February 10, 2020
i love him pic.twitter.com/9BkEcMJ5Uu
— alex (@soalexgoes) February 10, 2020
Find someone who looks at you the way Bong Joon-ho looks at an Oscar 😍#oscars #parasite #bonghive https://t.co/gch1KhjdsC pic.twitter.com/Q61bOUy8BA
— LAT Entertainment (@latimesent) February 10, 2020
Good morning. pic.twitter.com/QkEiltERaw
— Sandra E. Garcia (@S_Evangelina) February 10, 2020
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Because there were no true blockbuster movies this year, because they are increasingly formulaic, and because old Hollywood Glamour and class is largely dead and gone. The internet has killed the mystique. We know too much about all these people 24/7 to devote 4 hours of our lives sitting to stare at them in the TV.🤷♀️ Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.
Yup. I said this before but when the winners are all predictable no one tunes in. No host. No surprises (although Parasite was a surprise but the correct choice). No interesting fashion as everyone’s too safe or over-complicated by stylists and they can tune into red carpet elsewhere. The musical nominations weren’t exciting. Why tune in? Plus ABC wants extra money to be on your Sling… basic channels are dying and I don’t need awards that much for an extra $5/month.
You forgot to mention no real streaming option for the telecast to capture the attention of the youths on their screens. Otherwise strong effort 9.5/10.
@Dutch — I think you nailed it, most young people I know don’t have a cable subscription. And since you couldn’t live stream the show without having one people are not gonna tune in.
“We know too much about all these people 24/7 to devote 4 hours of our lives sitting to stare at them in the TV”
Nailed it. Social media and gossip industry has killed the mystery around most celebs. Why would anyone tune in when they are not intrigued by the celebs present there?
Short answer? Too many awards shows now leading up to it, taking all the fun & surprises (mostly) out of it. And people also pretty much being over all of the self-congratulatoryness by then.
“people also pretty much being over all of the self-congratulatoryness by then”
This. Also, it’s obviously more about playing a political game to get nominated or win instead of voters just watching the films and actually deciding what/who should be nominated based on merit alone. Would Leo have won had he not pandered to the Academy? Or “The Shape of Water”? Who in the blue hell actually thought that was a great film, let alone one that deserved Best Picture?
So true. Pandering and the self serving news that happens to “break” as Oscar campaigns are in full swing. I’ve had enough.
This also. It’s become less & less about merit and more about the campaigning & money dumped into those campaigns by the studios. I *really* lost my faith in the Oscars the year Goop won Best Actress over Cate Blanchett, and Shakespeare in Love won over Saving Private Ryan. Not that I think all Oscar wins are undeserved, but the process has definitely tainted it a bit.
“And people also pretty much being over all of the self-congratulatoryness by then.”
So true, but I’d like to add I’m also really tired of the hipocrisy. That bit with Brie Larson, Sigourney Weaver and Gal Gadot making feminist jokes really made me fume. Do these people really think I’m stupid enough I’ll forget they didn’t nominate any female directors because they put a bunch of female superheroes making jokes about it? Save your unfunny jokes and cringy one-liners and just give women the damn nomination.
The message of the show was… black people are good for PRESENTING. Woo hoo! Women are good for PRESENTING. Look at how pretty they are!
But neither are worth nominating for the big awards.
It was completely insulting that only Hair and Makeup and Costumes were appropriate categories, in the Academy’s eyes, for women to be nominated in.
I think as the demographics in the U.S. change, the #oscarssowhite becomes more and more tone deaf. Also, women are fed up.
And I agree with what someone else said about the lack of streaming option being an issue. I don’t have a TV and only watch things online. Because I am a movie nerd, I went to a friend’s house to watch. And was utterly thrilled that Parasite won, won, won, won.
I found this year’s Oscars more entertaining than previous years. The thing is I usually tune in anyway. People aren’t psychics. It’s not like they knew it would be more “woke” this year. Most people probably assumed it would be the usual 3.5 hour snooze fest. If you go to YouTube, all the top trending vids are about the Oscars so people obviously felt they missed out and want to see what went on.
I actually found the show to be incredibly boring, to the point that I went to bed maybe 2ish hours in. I had seen some of the Best Picture noms and was very happy that Parasite won, but the show itself was kind of a mess IMHO. Too much filler (looking at you, Eminem), the timing felt off, pointless forced hilarity…the quicker pace wasn’t enough to keep me watching.
ETA: I actually enjoyed Eminem’s performance but I still don’t think it was necessary. Just more filler…
I think lots of people prefer the youtube clips because they summarize the important points and leave out the other 3.15 hours of uninteresting stuff.
Which is probably why the decrease keeps happening, because anyone can catch up easily and feel like they aren’t missing out the next day or on twitter while it’s happening…what is driving people to tune in?
Yes that’s true. But for someone like me, I don’t have Netflix or anything. There was nothing else to watch Sunday lol. Anyways I still think this year the Oscars were more entertaining than previous years.
First time I haven’t watched the Oscars since 1975…
I’m sick of the bigotry…
I’m sick of the sexism…
I’m utterly over all of it….
Yep.
#OscarSoWhite. And I am pretty sure there are plenty of people still salty about Green Book getting best pic last year.
Same. First time in my adult life I’ve ever not watched. Sick of the interminable musical numbers and montages, sick of the same predictable garbage winning instead of the truly original, interesting choices, plus we already knew the acting awards were mostly going to the wrong people. I fast forwarded through it the next morning, and no joke, that show could have been 30 minutes long.
I missed it this year because I was at work, which was disappointing, because I would’ve really enjoyed watching Parasite and Joaquin Phoenix win.
I haven’t watched the telecast in years, honestly. Movies just aren’t what they used to be. TV is better for my money. People like Gwyneth Paltrow, who used to be glamorous and mysterious, now have vagina scented candles available for sale. The old days are long over. Leonardo DiCaprio, a legitimate movie star, brought a kid… It’s all a mess.
OMG, your fourth sentence makes me want to laugh and gag. That was funny. It’s also kind of sad that you are right, the mystery is disappearing. I think part of the reason Angie is so disliked is because she has that air of mystery about her.
the show was really good this year! they kept it moving. i like that some of the awards were announced in pairs.
the era of awards shows dominating cultural discourse is over, it’s as simple as that. we’ve moved on culturally. trying to blame it on “Parasite” is so gross and disingenuous.
When the nominations came out, I was not going to watch it. And will all the awards leading up to the Oscars there is no mystery as to who is going to win. However this year I am so glad I did end up watching as Parasite winning Best Picture was so exciting to see. An ACTUAL best picture winning the best picture!
I didn’t watch this year. Mainly because this entire awards season has been a snoozefest. The nominees were boring and I had no interest in watching a three hour show of problematic white dudes -and women- being celebrated. Even the red carpet was boring AF this year. If the Oscars want to continue to be relevant (and let’s be honest- their relevancy has dwindled significantly) they simply need to do more in terms of the films they choose to recognize. Im happy for Parasite but this reminds me a lot of when Moonlight won. It’s great – until next year when another tone deaf problematic undeserving film gets the award. *cough* Green Book *cough*
Do the younger generations even care about award shows in the same way? I feel like this is an almost yearly conversation. I don’t know anyone below 30 who even tunes into award shows except maybe the Tonys (and those are the theater heads). All of the youngins I know just watch the highlights If everything on YouTube or twitter or other sites.
I’m in my late 30 but, i stopped watching all award shows years ago. They are too long and I refuse to dedicate four hours of my life to them. I find them so boring even when they tell me they won’t be boring (except the Tonys and sometimes the Grammys). In the past I kind of felt stuck watching them but I have so many options now and even shows don’t necessarily cancel new episodes for the oscars like they might have in the past.
I’ve lost interest and haven’t watch the past year or 2. And I used to watch all the award shows. But now it’s just as easy to catch the fashions the next day, and look up the winners without having to watch a 3 hour plus show.
This doesn’t surprise me at all…what is there that is worth watching in real time? I can click the next day to see fashion choices and find out the winners.
My friends and I use to watch a lot of movies, especially oscar nominated ones, get together and have Oscar parties.
Now we feel that going to a movie is more expensive so we see less, usually only ones that seem interesting, and figure the time on Sunday watching the Oscars is better used for other things.
I think it’s a lot of reasons. I know I haven’t watched in years because I don’t even own a TV since ours broke in 2013. 😂 It’s too hard trying to deal with live-streams so I don’t.
Other comments above outlined the other points perfectly. Woke my ass. It wasn’t woke. It was faux woke at best.
Also kaiser good point about it being early. Even my husband who doesn’t gaf about awards season was like “isn’t that kind of early?” 😂
I don’t even know how I would watch it. I have a Roku TV that I watch YouTube and amazon prime and Netflix on. I don’t have cable, I don’t have an antenna to get local channels. And I think there are more and more people who have a set up like mine. Do the oscars stream live on youtube?
And maybe people just don’t want to stay up late on a Sunday night watching the Oscars, which could basically just be a clip show of all the previous awards shows. I’m sure all (maybe most?) of the winners from the oscars won the same award at one of the previous awards shows and gave a similar speech wearing a similar gown with the same people in the audience. You could just do clips from the various other shows and make the oscars.
I think people like to know who won and that’s why people used to watch the show. But now you can follow it on Twitter or various websites where people are live blogging it and find out what’s going on in real time without having to watch it. Because it’s boring. And it’s the same actors and actresses and directors being nominated and going to these things for the past 20-30 years. Quentin Tarantino? Leonardo DiCaprio? Brad Pitt was a front row big deal celebrity? He’s been a big deal celebrity for years and years and years. He used to at least be cute and fresh and new. Now he’s old and single and problematic and boring and not so cute. So why should I be excited about him?
Bingo!
I would have tuned in for Janelle Monais’ opening but I have the same set up as you. And other than HGTV and the olympics, I really don’t miss cable.
Can you watch the NFL, NBA, OR NHL with your set-up? That’s about the only thing I would miss. Does anyone know if FIFA is streaming?
With Roku, I’m pretty sure you can subscribe to certain channels but don’t quote me there. Worth looking into. It cut my cable bill by more than half
honestly, I think there are too many awards shows. I feel like growing up it was the GGs and the Oscars. Maybe we heard about the Spirit Awards or something, and the SAGs, but the rest weren’t really a thing. Now more and more of those are televised, and it does get to the question of “how many awards shows does the film industry win??”
I also feel like the crazy earliness of the Oscars this year hurt them. This sounds dumb, but I like a breather between the football playoffs and the Oscars, that’s when I catch up on a lot of the movies (if I can) and follow the gossip etc. I feel like this year, for someone like me who doesn’t see all the movies but likes to follow along for fun, there was just so much else going on that I never really got into “Oscar mode.”
Also, the show is kind of boring and predictable. We all knew Brad Pitt was going to win. I feel like Parasite was shoo-in for best foreign film (best picture was more of a surprise). We all knew Renee was going to win for Judy, and Joaquin for Joker. If there were more surprises, I think people would be more interested.
I also think over the years people have really accepted how political the awards are, and how important the “Oscar campaign” is, and that their particular favorite movie may not win, but whatever, its still their favorite movie. So basically the importance and relevance of the Oscars for those outside the industry has dimmed.
Before wall the wall internet coverage, likely the only chance of seeing the fashions was to actually watch. People and US would do a few pages in the print magazines, but you had to watch, or watch Joan Rivers, if you wanted to see what people were wearing.
Movies suck, the Stars suck, the Fashions sucks.
Everyone knew who was going to be awarded.
The same thing is happening with the Grammy’s, no ones watching, except the talent is even lesser than the Oscars, it still takes skill to act, produce, direct, etc. but almost anyone can mumble their way to a Grammy.
The younger generation do not care about old white men/old white ladies in the acting categories. Maybe if they nominated Lupita the younger gen would tune in. Seriously Renee zelwegger and dern? Uhhhh 🙄
It’s funny I read one of the producers for the Golden Globes brag and go on about Brad and Jennifer being oh so hollywood and glam… they also had the lowest ratings for their show. No one cares about those people anymore. I mean, I guess some still do but it’s not the 90s. Ok.
Younger nominees, poc. We need more of that to get people interested. It’s nice that a Korean director won everything though.
ALL OF THIS x1000
I love award season and always tune in to the Oscars, and honestly think this was one of the more entertaining shows in recent memory. I’m a little surprised at the poor ratings because I did find this year’s film nominees to be a little more accessible than usual – two were on Netflix, many had long theatrical runs, Joker was successful in the mainstream, etc. That said, a few reasons:
1) The main actor categories were all locks, so there was little room for surprise.
2) They’re long, and people don’t have “appointment tv” like they used to. They just read about stuff the next day. Not fault of the Oscars themselves necessarily, but a reflection of people’s viewing habits on a whole.
3) In the age of social media, there’s no mystery to Hollywood glamour anymore. We see many of these stars all the time so it doesn’t feel as exciting to see them at an award ceremony.
About number 3: we see them all the time, but we’ve also been seeing the SAME actors, actresses, and directors for like 30 years. Renee Zellweger? Brad Pitt? Leonardo DiCaprio? Quentin Tarantino? Al Pacino? It could have been 1995. The same faces, over and over again. I feel like there’s no new blood. There’s no new crop of hot, fresh, good looking, exciting entertainment people. There might be one or two fresh new actors/actresses, but it really seems like the film industry is just recycling the same actors and actresses over and over again for decades now.
And with #metoo and #timesup, and the constant reporting on the details of everyone’s personal lives, I feel like I’m just looking at a room full of really nasty people. Racists, misogynists, rapists, sexual harassers, men who try to get women to participate in the casting couch, or do superfluous nude scenes, or who like to see their female characters getting raped or violently murdered. It’s a room full of narcissistic, alcoholic, problematic people who say gross things on Twitter, who play PR games and snipe at each other in the press, and date people half their age, and trash their ex in the tabloids, and pay sexual harassment settlements to women for signing NDAs. And the Oscar ballot articles that showed the xenophobia and how insular the community is, how completely privileged and cut off from reality and society they are, and how they vote based on whatever random whim they’re feeling that day. It all just seems so gross to me. Not just boring, but gross.
@amytoo BINGO…
I agree that there are totally staples of the award circuit, but I think there’s a lot of fresh blood these days being recognized, too. Adam Driver, Margot Robbie, Soairse Ronan, Florence Pugh, etc. Even people like Olivia Colman who have been around for a long time and are now getting recognition. To your point, it’s the newbies who keep me interested in these shows. If the award goes to Meryl Streep again or Charlize Theron again makes no difference to me, but I love seeing newer actors climbing the ranks. The issue now, I think, is getting fresh blood in the Academy itself to nominate and vote for a more diverse group of stories. All the above actors are awesome, but they’re all white. The Academy should comprise a multitude voices who feel passionate about a diverse group of films — instead of the older generation that shows rampant racism and sexism in its nominations.
On your second point re: #MeToo and such, yup, fully agree.
I like Golden globes. Stars sit on the tables, drink and laugh, it feels like a party. Oscars are pretentious and big, like you go to the boring opera. They need to change format to appeal to the audience. People consume more and more information ourdays and there is less and less time, so who gonna waste 3 hours for a ceremony like this.
I’m probably just getting old, but I find it boring to watch so many privileged people celebrating themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I love the gossip and read all about the Oscars, but I haven’t watched them in years.
It’s not that difficult to figure out why. Most people, especially my age (32) and younger stream tv and don’t watch anything live (well hardly). Two, the Oscars are usually boring and it’s beyond obvious who is going to win the main awards. Three, #OscarsSoWhite. Also the films most people actually pay to go see in the theaters are never nominated for awards, so people simply don’t care. I really only cared this year because of Parasite (BongHive), but normally I just keep up on socials.
I just came to say there’s something so sweet about Bong Joon-ho. Like he’s a proud dad or something. The fact that even with such an extensive career he’s clearly still not used to this kind of attention accentuates this further. Seeing him with his whole team and all their awards warms my heart. Also: he’s 50 years old!! I thought he was at least 10 years younger.
JLO is cackling somewhere as her halftime show had 4 times the viewership the Oscars did, the Oscars needed her. If she had been nominated like she obviously should have instead of Robbie, everyone would have tuned in after she dominated the news cycle all week long due to the Halftime show.
I think the biggest reason is that there are almost no surprises anymore. Too many awards leading up to it with the front runners usually having been already established. If they got rid of everything except the Baftas, Golden Globes and some of the critics awards it be far more entertaining.
I find it helps if you have actually seen the films. I try to see every film in every category and this year saw everything but Corpus Christi, the Polish nominee for international film. Some of the best films I see every year are in the shorts or documentary categories. And those are where you see films about women and people of different races and ethnicities. For Sama, The Cave, The Edge of Democracy, and Honeyland introduced me to four incredible ladies in Syria, Brazil and Macedonia. The documentary shorts covered Vietnamese refugees reuniting through ballroom dancing, a Black Lives Activist trying to enact gun control measures in Missouri while struggling with personal loss; heartbreaking Balkan refugee children in Sweden, unbearable & preventable tragedy in South Korea, and the brave women and adorable girls learning to skateboard in Afghanistan.
The live action shorts dealt with a prodigal son who had joined ISIS, a funny, creepy, & touching story about not having shades on your windows, a horrible, true story of abuse in a Guatemalan orphanage, a suspenseful true thriller involving a kidnapping in Belgium, and the hilarious Nefta Football Club.
Seeing the films makes the awards show much more interesting
The same reason people don’t watch TV anymore, or go to the movies, or buy newspapers – because the Internet and because shortened attention spans. Decades ago, to know who won, you either watched the show, or waited till the next day to see it on the news. Now, information is streamed to you in real time. I can do the laundry, put my kids to bed, check instagram, AND check twitter every 10 seconds to learn who won.
No need to watch the red carpet when 50 fashion blogs will already have their best/worst list out within 20 minutes. Heck, someone will write Brad Pitt’s speech out word-for-word on Twitter as he’s saying it. No need to watch an entire show when I can get a shortened 20-minute version an hour after it’s over.
I think is as simple as the fact that people dont watch TV and we have the option to see what we want now, just that part, and thats what we do.
I just want to say – you can tell the Oscar producers have no idea what they are doing and who they are trying to appeal to when the conservatives complain about it being too woke and liberal, and the liberals complain about it being too sexist and racist.
They need to rethink their formula and start from scratch, otherwise they’ll end up the same way as the Victoria’s Secret fashion show. I don’t see the Oscars ending next year but I wouldn’t be so sure about a decade from now. They feel more and more irrelevant every passing year, and they surely must be very expensive to make right? There’ll come a point where investing that much money simply won’t be worth it if nobody cares.
I think the issue is that they need to stop having presenters make jokes about the lack of noms for POC and women and act on it. Get a more diverse pool of voters for the Academy and make things happen.
I haven’t watched awards in decades because I can’t stand having to cringe for hours. But to think there’s only one reason viewership is down (I’m talking about conservatives) is illustrating a severe lack of intellectual depth. In my very small corner of the world, we stream everything. That means no cable or satellite bills. Also, with so many awesome entertainment options available, why sacrifice viewing time to listen to the pampered smell their own farts? Additionally, our 24-hour access to news, social media and all things online, we can grab to-the-second comments, streaming updates and clips as it’s broadcasting as well as anytime we want. Why punish our multi-tasking selves to sit that long for what…filler fluff between winners? Aw hail no.
I don’t need to see rich white men pat themselves on the back. OUATIH was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.
I miss Billy and Joan. What I don’t like is the public bitching about the nominees every year.
My 17-year-old son summed it up: “Let me know what to look up on YouTube tomorrow.”
People don’t watch broadcast television anymore. That, more than anything, is the reason. We despise commercials, and we don’t tune in for live events like we used to as a culture.
It doesn’t help that these insufferably over-privileged artists use a moment on camera that should be used for gratitude to spout platitudes about whatever political pet they’re riding. Nobody wants to hear that in the age of Twitter and Instagram/Facebook.
Prior to social media’s explosion, these events were the rare chance for someone to publicly voice a minority opinion or a really underrepresented cause to a large nationwide/global audience. We don’t need events like the Oscars for that kind of exposure anymore, so to have a night of glamour, celebration, and gratitude turned into a really lame and disjointed series of pseudo-political statements from the richest, most entitled, and least educated amongst us…it doesn’t have a positive effect anymore, on just about anyone.
The statements that work and find favor/traction nowadays are the silent ones like the black evening gowns or a ribbon/pin representing silent support for a cause. The cape with the female directors’ names embroidered into it was well-received while the actors’ speeches were not. It’s a subtle but important difference.
So that’s why I think it’s fallen out of favor: 1.) We don’t watch live broadcast television anymore, and 2.) the political speeches are irksome because it’s largely beating dead horses that we’ve already been discussing globally on social media, anyway.
People knew what they were going to be seeing. No matter how many people of colour the Academy used as a smokescreen, the viewing public knew that Oscars 2020 would be a celebration of White men. And they decided not to watch.
I live in the Bay Area, stream TV and my WiFi was down all day Sunday. Finally was able to watch it Monday night. I hate Comcast.
And there was no host…that was weird. I always look forward to the opening monologue. But yay! Parasite! Bong Joon-ho!
I said last year that after learning of all the strong arming of Harvey Weinstein (and likely other producers) to push certain people to the front of the pack for voting and knowing what that disgusting pos did to so many women, the luster of the win is completely off for me.