Oscars 2025 surprise: Viewership up slightly from last year at 19.7 million

The audience for Sunday’s Oscars telecast saw a slight uptick from last year despite the lack of blockbuster box-office hits among the front-runners.

Updated Nielsen data issued Tuesday showed the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre averaged 19.7 million viewers for ABC and sister streaming service Hulu, an increase of 200,000 from the 2024 figure.

Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC released data late Monday showing the telecast was down around 8% to 18 million viewers. But Nielsen then tallied viewing from mobile streaming devices, which added 1.6 million people, erasing the decline.

The added viewing from digital devices may have been the result of the decision to make the Oscars telecast available to stream on Hulu, which is also owned by Disney. In the past, the Oscars was streamed only on ABC.com, which required a pay-TV subscription.

ABC did not break out the numbers for Hulu viewing. But based on the audience growth among the 18-to-49 age group — up 19% from last year — Hulu clearly helped lift the total as younger consumers are more likely to stream video programming.

The revised figures assuaged fears that fewer viewers would show up for a broadcast that largely celebrated indie film hits such as “Anora,” which won best picture and four other awards.

Last year, the average audience for the Oscars was 19.5 million viewers, when two blockbusters that accounted for nearly $2.3 billion in combined box-office receipts — “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” — were featured throughout the night.

“Anora” director Sean Baker’s $6-million film about a sex worker’s ill-fated romance with the son of a Russian oligarch has taken in $16 million in domestic ticket sales. The 10 best picture nominees collectively took in $1.6 billion in global receipts, led by Universal Pictures’ “Wicked” and Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part Two.”

Conan O’Brien, a former staple of late-night network TV who is now a podcast mogul, was the first-time host of the ceremony.

The audience for the Oscars hit an all-time low of 10.5 million in 2021, when live awards shows were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The telecast — which attracted nearly 30 million viewers as recently as 2019 — has seen its audience shrink as younger viewers eschew live three-hour-plus telecasts for clips on social media. It still attracts enough viewers to be one of the highest-rated nonsports programs of the year.

The 2022 show bounced back from the low ratings when Will Smith walked on the stage and struck presenter Chris Rock. That was the year the Sundance hit “CODA” won best picture.

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The Hulu stream experienced technical problems for some viewers, cutting out before “Anora” star Mikey Madison collected her lead actress trophy and her film was named best picture. The stream stopped at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time, the scheduled end for the telecast, which continued for an additional 20 minutes.

The Oscars are notorious for running well over the 3?-hour period ABC allots for the telecast. The program began at 7 p.m. Eastern this year for the second time to stem the loss of viewers that typically occurs after 11 p.m.

Disney apologized for the service interruption and is offering the full telecast for on-demand viewing.

The show opened with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande performing “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked,” the biggest commercial hit in contention. There also was a tribute to the first responders involved in the Los Angeles-area fire rescue efforts, with two LAFD officials making showbiz gags onstage.