ABC's
Oscars telecast draws smallest audience in six years
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[February 24, 2015] By
Eric Kelsey
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -
Sunday's Academy Awards telecast on ABC drew its
smallest audience in six years with 36.6 million average
viewers, according to Nielsen figures, in what critics
deemed a long, lackluster show and limited box office
appeal among top nominees.
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Nielsen data on Monday showed a 16 percent decline from last
year, a significant drop for Walt Disney Co's ABC since the
program is its biggest annual draw.
ABC banked on actor Neil Patrick Harris, who has earned plaudits
as host of TV's Emmy Awards and theater's Tony Awards, to build
on the momentum of comedian Ellen DeGeneres, who helped last
year's show attract 43.7 million viewers, its biggest audience
since 2000.
The Oscars annually attracts the biggest non-sports TV audience
in the United States, but the show this year drew the lowest
viewership since 2009. ABC is signed on to broadcast Hollywood's
biggest awards show through 2020.
Harris, 41, who has a strong following among younger viewers as
the star of sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," was seen as a bridge
between older viewers and the younger audiences advertisers
covet most.
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The telecast reached 60 million U.S. viewers overall, according
to Nielsen figures.
Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, in their third straight
year running the Oscars telecast, gambled on big musical numbers
with the likes of Lady Gaga's tribute to "The Sound of Music"
and an opening song-and-dance routine that failed to garner a
strong ovation from the star-studded crowd.
Critics faulted the show, which ran about 40 minutes longer than
its three-hour schedule, for poor writing and bland bits.
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Harris ventured into the audience like DeGeneres did last year, but
failed to spark a popular moment on social media as when the
comedian took a selfie with several stars.
Mary McNamara, television critic at the Los Angeles Times, faulted
the show for its emphasis on how Martin Luther King Jr biopic
"Selma" seemed to have gotten snubbed for some awards and the
resulting debate about diversity among Oscar voters.
"As if trying to make up for 'Selma' being overlooked in many
categories, the camera sought out and lingered on nonwhite members
of the audience whenever 'Selma' or the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
was mentioned," McNamara wrote.
Additionally, besides "American Sniper," which made $320 million at
box offices in the United States and Canada, the other seven best
picture nominees failed to surpass $85 million, and few A-list
Hollywood stars earned acting nominations unlike last year.
(Additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Mary Milliken
and Ken Wills)
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