As if the Oscars needed another obstacle in their pursuit for better ratings on ABC. It turns out, the Oscars ceremony this coming March will be broadcast at the exact same time as “The Last of Us” season finale on HBO. Yikes.
“The Last of Us” is quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon. This past Sunday’s second episode actually saw a 22% rise in viewers, with close to 5.7 million tuning in.
Fact of the matter is that the Oscars have been in a downward spiral for at least a decade now. Last year’s ceremony attracted an average audience of 15.4 viewers, making them the second least-watched telecast in the show's history.
1998: 55.2 million
2002: 41.7 million2006: 38.9 million
2009: 36.3 million
2016: 34.4 million
2018: 26.5 million
2020: 23.6 million
2021: 9.85 million
As you can see, the Academy and ABC have a major problem on their hands. Even if you don’t count the last two pandemic-inflicted ceremonies, the Oscars’ ratings have been consistently plummeting on an almost yearly basis.
The Academy announced last year that Twitter users would get to vote on their favorite films of 2021 — regardless of whether the film was nominated for an Oscar. The film that received the most fan votes was Zack Snyder’s “Justice League”. Call it the Oscar-equivalent of a People’s Choice Award.
This year they won’t need that popular film award as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” are both nominated for Best Picture. The Academy must be hoping this’ll get more people to tune in.