Oscar Ratings Slip Overall, But Show Improvement In Key Demos

While the 88^th Annual Academy Awards may have benefited studios like Warner Bros. (Time Warner Inc TWX), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc FOXA and Open Road (Regal Entertainment Group RGC, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC), it didn’t break any records for host network ABC (Disney Co DIS) in the ratings department. Although before any investors read anything too deep into those numbers, there is a lot to keep in mind.

Usually nobody really cares about award show ratings, as the news is more about what happened at the awards themselves, but here with the #OscarsSoWhite controversy the data is of note. Many groups that called for a boycott of the telecast have started taking a measure of credit for the loss of viewers, but those claims don’t exactly hold water.

Related Link: Warner Bros., Fox Dominate Oscards, While Open Roads Spotlight Ends Up On Top

Original estimates had the ABC-aired special down 8 percent year-to-year, but when more of the data came in over the day, that decline shrunk in half. Even more interesting is the fact that in key male demos and in adults 18–34 the numbers were slightly up.

The truth is that overall decline was always expected. The last time the Oscars put up massive numbers was when "The Lord of The Rings" finale ran the table back in 2004. While this year’s nominated films were a overall more mainstream group than usual, they weren’t expected to pull in large crowds on awards night.

Analysts are also keenly aware that award shows in general have an ebb and flow to them. It’s not a big secret that all of the major awards shows have recently seen some sort of year-to-year decline in recent airings.

Still, for ABC to have over 34 million people tune into the show and in turn be exposed to ads for its spring slate of series, that’s a win in its own right.