The choice of Ellen DeGeneres to return as host should help. Her turns hosting the Emmys in 2005 and the Oscars in 2007 produced very strong ratings, and her Warner daytime talk show “Ellen” is coming off its best numbers in years.
According to Nielsen, the 2007 Academy Awards telecast hosted by DeGeneres averaged a big 14.1 rating/33 share in adults 18-49 and 40.18 million viewers overall. These numbers represented gains vs. the previous year and some of the best we’ve seen in a while.
Over the last eight years, the 2007 Oscars show stands as the top-rated in both adults 18-49 and women 25-54 (19.2/40). In total viewers, the 40.18 million ranks third during that stretch, behind 2010 (41.70 million) and this year (40.38 million.
DeGeneres’ awards show hosting experience also includes two turns on the Primetime Emmys. Her first outing, in 2001, was postponed to November in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and suffered in the ratings as a result. But in 2005, the DeGeneres-hosted show averaged a 6.1 rating/15 share in adults 18-49 and 18.63 million viewers overall, numbers that no Emmys telecast has eclipsed in the last 10 years.
DeGeneres is also coming off her strongest season in at least six years as host of afternoon talkshow “Ellen,” where she averages about 3.35 million viewers, according to Nielsen, and was up by about 20% in women 18-34.