The 98th Academy Awards saw its TV audience shrink further by 9% as compared to the previous year, newly released ratings have revealed. The Oscars, held on Sunday and broadcast on ABC in the US, drew fewer viewers, with a ceremony short on upsets or controversies.
Oscars’ TV ratings plummet
The annual film industry gala, regarded as Hollywood’s biggest night, was watched by 17.9 million people, down 9.1% from 2025, according to Nielsen ratings. This comes after the 2025 Oscars had an audience of 19.7 million viewers. This was a five-year high, which many called a resurgence of the Oscars after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it appeared that the 2025 peak was a false dawn as the numbers dwindled again this year.
Hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the event was carried on Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network and its Hulu streaming service as part of a deal that runs through 2028.
The TV viewership of the Oscars has fallen way below its all-time high in the 90s, when figures routinely topped 50 million. In 1998, the all-time record was set at 57 million viewers, more than three times the number in 2026. This has been due to a combination of diminishing interest in the awards as a whole and a migration of many viewers to streaming platforms.
This probably justifies the Oscars moving to the internet from TV starting in 2029. From 2029, the ceremony will air globally on Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube streaming platform.
One Battle After Another and Sinners dominate at 2026 Oscars
One of the biggest reasons for a low interest in the Oscars this year was the absence of surprises in the ceremony. Most of the top prizes, barring Best Actor, seemed to have had clear favourites weeks before the ceremony. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another was expected to dominate, and it did, winning six awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Its main competition, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, had broken the Academy Awards record with 16 nominations and also won big, taking home four statuettes, including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan.
Jordan triumphing over Timothee Chalamet in the Best Actor category was the only highlight of an otherwise predictable evening. Even host Conan O’Brien played it safe in his monologue, and the program was spared the political commentaries and other snafus that have generated controversy in the past.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
