The 96th annual Academy Awards ceremony drew 19.5 million viewers on ABC Sunday night.
Per the time zone adjusted fast national ratings, Sunday’s telecast drew 19.5 million viewers and a 3.8 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic airing from 7:00-10:29 p.m ET. By comparison, the 2023 telecast drew 18.8 million viewers and a 4.0 rating in the final tallies. That means this year’s show was up just shy of 4% in total viewers but down 5% in the key demo. It should also be noted this year’s show started an hour earlier than it has in years past.
Still, the 2024 telecast was the most-watched Oscars since 2020 and marked the third consecutive year of viewership growth. The 2021 telecast, which was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, drew an all-time low 10.4 million viewers. It rebounded in 2022 with 16.6 million, followed by last year’s 18.8 million.
Read the full Oscars winners list here.
The Oscars ceremony saw “Oppenheimer” reign supreme, with the hit biopic taking home seven awards, including best picture, best director for Christopher Nolan, and best actor for Cillian Murphy. Robert Downey Jr. also won best supporting actor for his work in the film.
Elsewhere during the night, Emma Stone won the second Oscar of her career for “Poor Things,” while Da’Vine Joy Randolph won best supporting actress for “The Holdovers.”
Both Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” failed to pick up any wins, and “Barbie” was shut out of most categories in which it was nominated except for best original song (“What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell).
Speaking of “Barbie,” Ryan Gosling brought the house down with his performance of “I’m Just Ken.” Gosling, who was nominated for best supporting actor for playing Ken in the smash hit film, was joined onstange by an army of dancers that included fellow Kens Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Scott Evans, as well as Mark Ronson and guitar legend Slash.
Immediately following the Oscars, a special episode of “Abbott Elementary” scored new series highs in both the Live+Same Day total viewers and in the demo, with 6.9 million a 1.42 rating respectively.
