The 2023 Oscars drew another million viewers in the week following the live telecast.
According to ABC, the 95th annual Academy Awards drew an average audience of 19.9M total viewers after seven days of viewing across linear and digital platforms. It also scored a 4.43 rating among the key 18-49 demographic.
That’s up 8% from the 18.8M viewers that tuned in live on March 12. It marks the second year in a row that the Oscars grew its audience in the days after the live ceremony. While 8% may not seem like a huge jump, most live ceremonies draw little to no delayed viewers, unless something significant occurs.
ABC also says the Academy’s digital content views of the 95th Oscars increased year-over-year by 359%, up to 109.2M vs. last year’s 23.8M. The Academy also accumulated more than 760,000 new followers between January and March, leading up to this year’s ceremony.
This year’s live audience was already a positive sign for the Oscars, having increased its viewership by 13%. The telecast reached an all time low in 2021 with only about 10.4M viewers and has been working its way back up in the two years since. While it has yet to reach pre-pandemic numbers, reaching nearly 20M this year is a sign that the show is headed in the right direction.
There are a number of reasons why viewership may have been bolstered this year, including the addition of 2022’s two highest grossing films (Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick) in the Best Picture race. Bringing back a tried-and-true host like Jimmy Kimmel also might have positively impacted ratings.
But even before the pandemic, the Oscars were on a steady decline when it came to viewers. 2020’s 23.6M was nothing to bat an eye at when just a few years earlier the viewership had been nearly double.
