The 90th Academy Awards Had Historically Low Ratings

LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — Ratings for the nearly four-hour 2018 Academy Awards telecast on ABC dropped to a record low on Sunday, with just 26.5 million viewers tuning into the awards gala.

According to Variety, this year’s Oscars were the least-watched to date and viewership was down approximately 19% from 2017.

The 8 p.m.-11 p.m. portion of ABC’s telecast averaged an 18.9 household rating and 32 share in Nielsen’s metered-market overnight ratings, a decline of about 16% from the 22.5/37 rating that the awards show enjoyed in 2016.

However, these ratings figures exclude the final 48 minutes of the show, when the most prestigious awards were distributed.

Despite the plunge in ratings for the Oscars, ABC still dominated television viewership for the night, though most of their rivals chose to broadcast reruns instead of face off with new content against the Oscars.

The ratings decline that hit Sunday’s Oscar broadcast continues a trend of declining viewership experienced by most award shows in recent years. Last month, the Grammys saw a similar decline, with viewership figures declining by as much as 24% from 2017.