The 90th Academy Awards telecast aired in March to all time low record. Disney-ABC Television Group executives met with leaders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to convey a message: You are facing irrelevance.
A year and a half earlier, ABC had set a long-term pact with the Academy to broadcast the Oscars through 2028.
Then the ratings fell off a cliff. The 26.6 million viewers averaged by the 2018 Oscars, according to Nielsen live-plus-same day numbers, represented a 19% decline from 2017, and 39% drop from the show’s recent peak in 2014.
Numbers for younger viewers were even worse. Ratings in the 18-49 demo fell 24% from 2017 and 47% from 2014. The 18-34 demo was down 29% from 2017 and 56% from 2014.
