Viewership for the Oscars 2023 broadcast improved significantly from last year’s unimpressive numbers, jumping 12% from what was the second worst rating performance in history.
Nielsen’s first notes, provided to The Hollywood Reportersaid the show on ABC averaged 18.7 million viewers, up from 16.6 million in 2022. Viewership share among the key 18-49 demographic also improved, from 3.76 last year to 4.0.
While the rise is good news for the Oscars and its umbrella organization, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas), the numbers are still the third-lowest on record as the Oscars struggle to recover from there disastrous 2021 editionwhose final odds closed at 10.4 million.
This year’s edition saw the return of a traditional style host in jimmy kimmel, a relatively popular winner in the multiverse comedy Anywhere, All At Once, and a largely uncontroversial evening. With the 2021 and 2022 shows impacted by the pandemic, the closest point of comparison is the 2020 event, which managed 23.6 million.
Other award shows have had mixed results: the Grammys reached 12.6 million (a 31% increase), while the Emmys fell to 5.9 m, its lowest on record. The highest Oscar audience in its history was for the 1998 edition, which saw Titanic win Best Picture, with 57 million viewers.