With virtually no blockbusters (or even mainstream hits) in contention for the major awards, pessimism was in full force for this year’s Academy Awards telecast. With films like “The Artist” driving the buzz, most expected the 84th Annual Oscars would take a sizable hit from last year.
As it turns out, no such hit occurred, and the telecast’s ratings might actually end up higher than those of last year when all is said and done. ABC confirmed this morning that the show improved by 4% in the overnight metered market ratings to a healthy 25.5.
Update: In the preliminary, non-time-adjusted fast nationals, the show posted an average of 34.4 million viewers, slightly building on last year’s numbers. It delivered a 10.2 preliminary adults 18-49 rating, down slightly from the prior year’s 10.6.
Such numbers are highly subject to change once the final, time-zone-adjusted results come into play, but at this point, it seems safe enough to conclude that ratings for Sunday’s broadcast did not fall significantly from the previous year’s telecast.
And given the lack of marquee films and the general lack of buzz surrounding the events (sources like Deadline say that many high-profile Hollywood types were not even excited about attending this year), that lack of a decline should be viewed as a massive success.
