2026 Oscar Ratings Lowest In Four Years

Despite numerous films that had earned over $100 million at the box-office competing for Best Picture, this year’s Oscars have seen a notable ratings decline.

Sunday’s 98th Academy Awards drew 17.86 million viewers on ABC and Hulu, according to Nielsen. That’s a drop of around 9% from last year’s 19.69 million viewers, which was the highest of the post-pandemic era.

The drop was steeper than both the Golden Globes in January and the Grammy Awards in February, which fell by about 6% compared to their 2025 editions.

This weekend’s ceremony drew the smallest audience for the awards since 2022, when 16.68 million people watched. The show also delivered a 3.92 rating among adults 18-49, a 14% decline from 4.54 last year.

The event maintained its usual spot as the most-watched primetime entertainment telecast of the season and its social media stats also were up significantly by 42%.

The telecast was notably marred by several technical issues at the ceremony itself, as opposed to the live stream, which had issues last year.

Source: THR