TV Ratings: Oscars 2024 Hit 4-Year High

The biggest night in Hollywood scored 19.5 million total viewers Sunday night on ABC, according to The Wrap citing Nielsen fast national live and same day data.

The telecast of the 96th Academy Awards marked a four-year high in total viewers, including a 4% increase compared to the 18.8 million who tuned into the Sunday night telecast in 2023. At the time, last year’s broadcast saw a 13% uptick in total viewership compared to the 16.7 million viewers the awards show nabbed in 2022. The show also nabbed a 3.81 rating among adults 18-49.

This year’s ceremony started an hour earlier than previous telecasts at 4 p.m. ET/7 p.m. ET — a tactic to keep East Coast audiences up through the end of the ceremony, which Oscars showrunner and EP Raj Kapoor told TheWrap would be be “beneficial” given audience’s shifting lifestyles.

The award show closed out the 2024 awards seasons, which has mostly trended upwards when it comes to ratings, with viewership for the Golden Globes up a whopping 50% from last year, and Grammys ratings seeing a 34% uptick from the previous ceremony. The Emmys, on the other hand, hit a record ratings low and saw a 27% decline in viewership.

The Oscars telecast is typically the highest rated nonsports program of the year, but it no longer scores 30 million viewers or more as it once did. The tendency of younger consumers to watch video clips online has driven down the ratings of all live awards shows in recent years.

But this year’s ceremony, emceed by ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel, had the double-barreled box office bang of “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” going for it. The two films had a combined global box office of $2.4 billion.