Oscars 2026 viewership drops by 9% despite star-studded night

Conan O'Brien hosted Oscars 2026

• Oscars viewership dropped 9% to 17.9 million in 2026
• Paul Thomas Anderson's film won six awards, including Best Picture.
• Oscars to stream globally on YouTube starting in 2029

Did our AI summary help?

The 98th Academy Awards TV viewership has recently witnessed a slump by 9%. The latest report has recently revealed that the Oscars, which were held on Sunday and shown on ABC in the United States, attracted fewer viewers and included fewer scandals or upsets in comparison to last year.

Nielsen ratings show that 17.9 million people watched the annual film industry gala, which is considered Hollywood's biggest night, a 9.1% decrease from 2025. This comes after 19.7 million people watched the 2025 Oscars.

Several referred to this five-year high as the Oscars' "resurgence" following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the numbers declined once more this year, suggesting that the 2025 peak was a false dawn.

As part of an agreement that lasts until 2028, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences hosted the event, which was broadcast on Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network and Hulu streaming service.

The Oscars' TV viewership has drastically decreased from its peak in the 1990s, when numbers frequently exceeded 50 million. 57 million viewers set the all-time record in 1998, which is more than three times the figure in 2026. This has resulted from both the general decline in interest in awards and the shift of many viewers to streaming services.

This likely explains why the Oscars will switch from television to the internet in 2029. The ceremony will be broadcast worldwide on Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube streaming service starting in 2029.

The lack of surprises at the event was one of the main causes of this year's low interest in the Oscars. With the exception of Best Actor, the majority of the major awards appeared to have definite favourites weeks before the event.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another was speculated to dominate the award function and took home six awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Also Read: Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Trailer: Miley Cyrus returns home in emotional special, performs 'Best of Both Worlds’

With 16 nominations and four statuettes, including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Ryan Coogler's Sinners, its main rival, set the record for the most Academy Awards.

The sole bright spot in an otherwise uneventful evening was Jordan's victory over Timothee Chalamet in the Best Actor category.

Even host Conan O'Brien was cautious in his monologue, and the show avoided political commentary and other faux pas that have caused problems in the past.