What were 2025 Oscars’ TV ratings? How does viewership compare to previous years?
As the Academy Awards battle a major audience slump in recent years, 2025’s Oscars’ TV ratings were a suprise for some and expected for others.
Sunday’s Oscars ceremony was hosted by Conan O’Brien and had some brilliant moments and surprises as well as excellent performances and a huge celebrity turnout, but it still remained well short of the viewership figures it used to garner.
2025 Oscars viewership dropped for first time in four years.
According to data released by TV ratings specialists Nielsen on Monday, the 97th Academy Awards averaged 18.1 million viewers in the United States, which is 7 percent less than in 2024 when the average number of viewers was 19.5 million.
ABC’s 2025 audience represents a ratings drop for the first time sin 2021 and is the lowest since 2022 when the number only reached 16.6 million viewers.
The event fell to an all-time-low average of 10.4 million in 2021, before rising to 16.6 million in 2022 and 18.7 million last year.
In the past, the Oscars routinely attracted over 40 million TV viewers in the US, hitting a record average of 55.25 million in 1998. Audiences have declined since the turn of the millennium, however. Indeed, the last time the gala managed more than 40 million viewers was a decade ago, when 2014’s Academy Awards averaged 43.7 million.
What went wrong?
There are several reasons why viewership may have been down. A quick look at the list of nominees and you can quickly see that Hollywood’s biggest names were not nominated for this year’s award ceremony.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s event, Hulu experienced livestream technical difficulties and the show returned to its later time slot and things didn’t get kicked off until around 7 p.m., three hours later than in 2024.
The Oscars downward slide
Who is ‘Anora’ director, Sean Baker?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will have to analyze the numbers and look at possible solutions to try and improve viewership in 2026. It’s not an easy task considering the situation of the cinema industry since the COVID pandemic in which over 1,000 cinemas have been closed. The younger generation seems to be losing interest in the glamour of Tinseltown and who even watches cable TV anymore?
hell yes to this moment in Sean Baker's Oscar speech for Anora's screenplay:
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) March 3, 2025
"I want to thank the sex worker community. They have shared their stories. They have shared life experiences with me over the years. My deepest respect. Thank you. I share this with you!" pic.twitter.com/WOeYdPRWIC
Anora wins big at 97th Oscars
The big winner of the night was ‘Anora’ with five Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Film Editing and Best Original Screenplay.
Complete your personal details to comment
Your opinion will be published with first and last names