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The audience on Walt Disney Co's ABC broadcast
network averaged 9.85 million, 58% below last year's final tally
of 23.6 million viewers for the film industry's highest honors.
Final numbers that include people who watched at bars and
restaurants are expected to be released on Tuesday.
The slide reflects a trend among live awards shows during the
coronavirus pandemic. TV audiences for September's Emmys and the
Grammy Awards in March also drew their lowest audiences ever.
Ratings for the Golden Globes in February fell 60% from a year
earlier.
Hoping to draw viewers while adhering to pandemic safety
measures, this year's producers tried a few new things. The
awards were broadcast for the first time at a historic train
station in downtown Los Angeles in a more intimate setting with
only nominees and their guests.
With movie theaters closed for much of the past year, studios
held back crowd-pleasing blockbusters. The films competing for
Oscars were smaller movies watched mostly at home on streaming
services. Even before the pandemic, TV audiences were dropping
as viewers flocked to streaming and social media postings.
The show featured a historic best director win for Chloe Zhao,
who became the second woman and first woman of color to take
home that prize. Her film, "Nomadland," won best picture
[L1N2MI0I8].
Producers encouraged longer acceptance speeches and stripped the
usual comedy and musical performances. One light moment came
late in the three-hour telecast when nominee Glenn Close briefly
danced to the 1988 funk hit "Da Butt."
Instead of saving best picture for last, producers broke with
custom and ended with best actor. The honor went to Anthony
Hopkins, who was not in attendance, making for an abrupt ending.
Reactions from film and TV critics were harsh.
"The Oscars were a train wreck at the train station, an
excruciatingly long, boring telecast that lacked the verve of so
many movies we love," USA Today reviewer Kelly Lawler wrote.
"The trade-off — whether because of the smaller crowd, the
social distancing, or the sound quality in the cavernous space —
was what felt like a dead room, both acoustically and
emotionally," the New York Times TV critic Mike Hale wrote.
Many noted that the show featured few clips from the nominated
films.
"So there was a missed chance to tantalize viewers with actual
footage of actors acting, of scores soaring, of 'Tenet''s visual
effects inverting," Entertainment Weekly reviewer Darren Franich
wrote.
Some praised the producers for shaking up traditions for a show
that has been criticized as stale. Time magazine said the event
was "more entertaining than the average pre-COVID Oscars."
ABC owns broadcast rights for the Oscars until 2028.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Howard Goller)
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