LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — The preliminary viewership numbers for the 2019 Academy Awards are in and it appears as if performances from the likes of Queen and Lady Gaga helped to bolster the show’s ratings.
According to ABC, the 2019 telecast of the awards show proved to be TV’s most-watched entertainment telecast in 2 years and the top-rated show with young adults in the past year, breaking a record held by ABC’s 2017 “Oscars” telecast.
Nielsen’s Live + Same Day “Fast National” ratings show that the telecast attracted an average audience of 29.6 million Total Viewers and a 7.7 rating in Adults 18-49, according to ABC.
That’s up by 3.1 million viewers in the key Adults 18-49 demographic, an increase of 13% year-over-year.
As well, the Oscars were a force to be reckoned with in the world of social media. Nielsen’s Social Activity indicated that Academy Awards dominated Sunday night’s social conversation with 17.7 million total social interactions (Twitter: 76%, Instagram: 20% and Facebook: 4%). Social activity was up 7% from 2018 across comparable metrics (Total Twitter, Facebook Owned and Instagram Owned) and 21% on Twitter.
The Oscars also faced some competition, including season finales of HBO’s popular series True Detective as well as the season finale of AMC’s increasingly hoary zombie series The Walking Dead.
The ratings bump is likely a welcomed relief for the show’s producers and comes after four years of steep declines for the long-running awards show. In 2019, the show was slightly shorter than in previous years, and the show did not feature a formal host. In 2018, the show was hosted by actor and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
