Oscars 2020 Ratings: Academy Awards Lose Nearly 6 Million Viewers From 2019
Parasite made history during Sunday’s 2020 Oscars, but sadly, not as many people tuned in to watch it as in previous years.
The 92nd Annual Academy Awards hit an all-time low in ratings, with 23.6 million viewers and a 5.3 rating for adults 18-49. That’s a big dip from the 2019 awards show, which pulled in 29.56 million viewers and a 7.7 rating.
Previously, the all-time low belonged to the 2018 Oscars, which were watched by 26.5 million. They were also the last time the ceremony had a host (Jimmy Kimmel); the past two shows went without anyone at the helm, though previous hosts Chris Rock and Steve Martin’s opener was very monologue-like.
Sunday’s telecast went over its three-hour time slot, ending at 11:32pm ET, following Parasite becoming the first non-English language film to take home Best Picture. (The audience even cheered for the lights to be turned back on so the winners could finish their speeches.)
The rest of the night’s TV programming was mostly reruns. However, there were a handful of new episodes, including Homeland‘s final season premiere and Kidding‘s season premiere on Showtime, Power‘s series finale on Starz, and The Outsider on HBO.