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Oscar ratings fall 9% in Conan O'Brien's second year hosting

Entertainment | Movies and TV

Oscar ratings fall 9% in Conan O'Brien's second year hosting

By Associated Press

Host Conan O’Brien appears during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theater in Los Angeles (AP)

Host Conan O’Brien appears during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theater in Los Angeles (AP)

The 98th Oscars hosted by Conan O’Brien saw a dip in ratings after several years of gains. The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday said that just under 17.9 million viewers tuned into Sunday’s show, which aired live on ABC and was streamed on Hulu.

The ratings are down 9 percent from last year’s post-pandemic high of 19.7 million viewers who tuned in for O’Brien’s inaugural year as host, when “Anora” swept the awards. The show also posted a more significant 14 percent decline in viewership among adults aged 18-49 compared to last year.

Sunday’s Oscars saw a showdown between two Warner Bros. films, “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners,” with the former winning best picture and director. Michael B. Jordan won best actor for “Sinners,” the most nominated film in history, with 16, that also broke the record for the most losses by a single film, with 12.

And yet, despite the dip in audience, the Oscars are still the No. 1 primetime entertainment telecast of the 2025-2026 season. The Golden Globes, which aired on CBS in January, drew an audience of 8.7 million viewers, down 7 percent from the year prior.

The Oscars, like many other awards shows, saw an all-time low in 2021 during the pandemic with only 10.4 million viewers. At its height in the 1990s it often attracted around 45 million viewers. Its peak came in 1998, when “Titanic” won best picture and 57.2 million people watched.

Broadcast ratings will no longer be a metric of the success for the Oscars in 2029, when the show moves to YouTube for its 101st awards.

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