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The 2020 Oscars were watched by the smallest audience the awards show has ever received.
23.6 million viewers tuned in on Sunday night to see Parasite sweep to a surprise victory.
Last year’s Oscars delivered a 7.7 rating in adults 18-49 and 29.6 million viewers in the time zone adjusted fast national ratings. That viewership figure, while up 12% from 2018, represented the second smallest audience ever for an Academy Awards telecast. 2018 delivered the smallest ever with 26.5 million viewers.
News of the decline isn’t entirely surprising, as awards show numbers in general have been in decline over the past few years. For instance, the 2020 Golden Globes dipped 2% on 2019 to eight-year viewership low, while the 2019 Emmys was the lowest-rated and least-watched in the show’s history, a refrain that is becoming all too familiar when discussing award show ratings lately.
Parasite was the big winner this year, snagging four wins including a sensational best picture victory at the end of the night. The Bong Joon Ho feature became the became the first foreign language film to win the top award in the process.
The battle between studios ended in a three-way tie between Neon (which distributed Parasite in the United States), Sony Pictures and Walt Disney.
The Irishman was arguably the most disappointed film of the year, as the Martin Scorsese Netflix feature went in with 10 nominations and left with zero wins. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Ford v Ferrari both snagged two wins respectively.
The other major networks aired only reruns up against the Oscars, with a 60 Minutes replay scoring the highest non-Oscars rating and total viewership with a 0.5 and around 5.9 million viewers.
CBS and NBC tied with a 0.4 average rating across the night, followed by Fox with a 0.3 and the CW with a 0.1.
