The 98th Oscars hosted by Conan O’Brien drew 17.9 million viewers on Sunday night time, hitting the primary decline for the Oscars telecast since 2021, in accordance with American Nielsen nationwide dwell+identical day large information plus panel program scores.
The telecast, which aired dwell on ABC within the U.S. and streamed on Hulu, was down 9 per cent from final yr’s post-pandemic excessive of 19.7 million viewers and a six-year excessive with youthful viewers aged 18-34, who tuned in for O’Brien’s inaugural yr as host, when Anora swept the awards.
The present additionally noticed a extra important 14 per cent decline amongst adults aged 18-49 in comparison with final yr.
The decline for Sunday night time’s present matches comparable dips in viewership for different main award exhibits, together with the Golden Globes, which was down by seven per cent with 8.7 million viewers in January, and the Grammys, which was down by six per cent with 14.4 million viewers in February.
Regardless of the dip in scores this yr, in accordance with the Walt Disney Co., the 98th Academy Awards now charges because the No. 1 prime-time leisure telecast of the 2025-2026 season.
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Engagement for the Oscars rose in different metrics: prime-time social impressions went up greater than 42 per cent this yr, and there have been greater than 129 million video views on Academy social platforms all through the night time.
In 2021, the Oscars noticed an all-time low of 10.4 million viewers however continued to develop in scores after that, hitting 16.6 million viewers in 2022, 18.8 million in 2023, 19.5 million in 2024 and 19.7 million in 2025.
At its top within the Nineties, the Oscars usually attracted round 45 million viewers. Its peak got here in 1998, with 57.2 million folks watching when Titanic received finest image.
Sunday’s Oscars noticed a showdown between two Warner Bros. movies, One Battle After One other and Sinners, with the previous successful finest image and director. Michael B. Jordan received finest actor for Sinners, essentially the most nominated movie in historical past, with 16, which additionally broke the document for essentially the most losses by a single movie at 12.
Canadians made a powerful exhibiting at this yr’s Academy Awards, with Korean-Canadian director Maggie Kang successful the Oscar for finest animated function for her debut movie KPop Demon Hunters.
The Woman Who Cried Pearls, by Montreal administrators Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, additionally took residence an Oscar for finest animated brief movie.
Canada’s Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau received the Oscar for finest manufacturing design for his or her work on Frankenstein.
Manufacturing designer Deverell, now primarily based in Cape Breton, N.S., and set decorator Vieau, initially from Dartmouth, N.S., took residence the prize for his or her work on the horror-fantasy directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Earlier within the night time, Canadians Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey had been a part of the crew that received the Oscar for finest make-up and hairstyling on the movie.
Disney nonetheless has two extra years left of its cope with the Oscars, which is able to proceed to broadcast on ABC and Hulu in 2027 and 2028 earlier than the award present strikes to YouTube for its a hundred and first awards in 2029. YouTube has the rights to the Oscars till no less than 2033.
— With recordsdata from The Related Press
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