How can the Oscars get their Ratings back.

[Castle]

I am not sure there is anything the Oscars can do.

Ratings are contingent on:
-- Serious Adult Dramas having a popular audience.
-- A really popular film also being critically liked (LOTR, Gladiator)
-- Popular actors giving a performance audiences really like and get behind.

Oscars are like sports and audiences like to have a rooting interest, if you have a team that's not popular or drawing in advertising, then there's not much that can be done.

Oscars used to be a superbowl but now it gets the ratings of a lesser-tier event.

Yes, I was going to say this that they were like the super bowl but I forgot, however the ratings of the last 20 years showed people still watched even when films were not LOTR and Gladiator. There is part of some prestigiousness the Oscars may have lost over the years that many dont care enough to watch anymore.

the Oscars feels more like the People's Choice Awards to many people now, than something with the name that calls itself The Academy of motions of arts and sciences,....you know Academic, meaning, something intellectual, extremely artistic, deep, objective thinking. Perhaps the oscars should take their own narrative back of why they once mattered.

[Hellion]

I am sure many know by now the oscar ratings crashed to less than 10 million views. Despite some extreme right wing people in the media taking time to gloat and mock the oscars for going what they call ''woke'' as the reason they have lost 90% of their audience. I think there is more to explaining why people don't watch the Oscars any more.

Where do you think they went wrong, that they have lost almost 40 million viewers since the 2010s?

I don't pay much attention to the Oscars and I don't think wokeness is a bad thing, but the amount of articles published this week to the effect of "We shouldn't bemoan Anthony Hopkins's win because he's an incredible talent but at the same time we're writing this because we're disappointed that Chadwick Boseman lost" is ridiculous.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Yes, I was going to say this that they were like the super bowl but I forgot, however the ratings of the last 20 years showed people still watched even when films were not LOTR and Gladiator. There is part of some prestigiousness the Oscars may have lost over the years that many dont care enough to watch anymore.

the Oscars feels more like the People's Choice Awards to many people now, than something with the name that calls itself The Academy of motions of arts and sciences,....you know Academic, meaning, something intellectual, extremely artistic, deep, objective thinking. Perhaps the oscars should take their own narrative back of why they once mattered.

The Academy has two options -- go full arthouse (like they did when they gave the award to Parasite last year, as people noted 'the year the actually best picture won best picture') which would chase away ratings for good and alienate it from mainstream tastes completely -- or go sellout, give Marvel movies Oscars, give Kevin Feige four awards in one night and so on.

The fact is the movie business has crunched the "middle film". Time was that A Beautiful Mind, or The Departed earned solid money at the box-office i.e. $100mn+ and as such it counted as a popular successful film that attracted viewers to follow its fortunes at the Oscars. In the 90s you had Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump which also fit that.

Now that's all gone.

[titanfan]

I don't pay much attention to the Oscars and I don't think wokeness is a bad thing, but the amount of articles published this week to the effect of "We shouldn't bemoan Anthony Hopkins's win because he's an incredible talent but at the same time we're writing this because we're disappointed that Chadwick Boseman lost" is ridiculous.

To be fair, If you were going to write an article about the Oscars (and unfortunately too many articles/titles/compensation are all click based these days), then what are going you to write about? It was the most/only controversial thing of an otherwise dull show.

The show moved Best Actor to the last category and had enough Boseman tributes such that the casual audience was meant to believe that the show was ending with his win. Then it didn't happen.

[CliffHanger2]

The decline of big name stars has probably also hurt. Nowadays ppl don't even know the names of ppl who are nominated or what movies they are in.

[Castle]

I don't pay much attention to the Oscars and I don't think wokeness is a bad thing, but the amount of articles published this week to the effect of "We shouldn't bemoan Anthony Hopkins's win because he's an incredible talent but at the same time we're writing this because we're disappointed that Chadwick Boseman lost" is ridiculous.

I saw a bit of this story but chose to stay away from it because it seems it has turned into a big controversy that I see as a non issue. This is not a typical situation of what is seen as an Oscar upset like Judy Garland loosing to Grace Kelly for Best Actress or Saving Private Ryan loosing to Shakespeare in Love for Best Picture

There are two reasons why.. Boseman has passed and I did not see either performances to judge objectively.


However I know how the voices of a tiny twitter fans can sound bigger than they are, thanks to the power of social media, I know Hopkins work as an actor and I am sure he must have given a great performance , maybe even better to win over Boseman, who primarily would have stood a better chance of winning because we will sadly never see him act again. I thought he was going to win because he had the media support and also the Oscars may have given the award more as a thank you for everything gift and the legacy of black panther, add all that to his own performance in the film, should have been a shoe in win for Boseman, but I guess that was not enough to outdo Hopkins.


Some people just need to apply logic and common sense. if they did, they will not losing their minds on twitter as they do all the time over what should be a non issue or worse bemoaning Hopkins. He is legend at this point and will get another Oscar soon for lifetime achievement, The attack on him is ridiculous for sure.....not to mention very ignorant.

[Vakanai]

As a person who does not consider myself left wing or right wing but more as an independent that uses logic, though had a personal dislike for Trump and wanted him gone as President, maybe the USA may has just embraced to much extremism wherever they can find it.

As a person of colour myself, I had no issues with diversity as long as the merits of the movie still had the final say, who gets nominated and win, but I am not sure how much this matters anymore in the last few years since .....Oscars so white. I myself did see most of this movies nominated , I did see Parasite last year and it was good enough to win Best Picture for me, , but all that may be interpreted to many other people who thinks he won only because he was Korean. if people have that mentality now.... they won't watch anymore, even many POCs.



there is always the technical categories, I see that Nolan's Tenet won for VFX. Which is typical for a Nolan film. However I agree, that they should open more space for sci-fi/horror/superhero/monster/action nerd as long as they are up to the standard of their deep drama and their film making is top notch.

I didn't watch Parasite, but I think that director is the same one who made a monster movie about 15 years ago that I really like - The Host. That was extremely well done (actually finally bought the blu-ray for it early this year after not seeing it for over a decade - it really held up, even the special effects still looked pretty decent considering). Could just be because that I'm an anime fan and a lifelong Godzilla fan, but if someone has a problem with a film because it's made by or features Asians, they clearly have poop for brains.

And yeah, there are the technical categories, but the Oscars just feel too long to sit through for me waiting for the couple categories or so that might feature a movie I actually watched.

[Hellion]

I saw a bit of this story but chose to stay away from it because it seems it has turned into a big controversy that I see as a non issue. This is not a typical situation of what is seen as an Oscar upset like Judy Garland loosing to Grace Kelly for Best Actress or Shakespeare in Love loosing to Saving Private Ryan .
for Best Picture

There are two reasons why.. Boseman has passed and I did not see either performances to judge objectively.


However I know how the voices of a tiny twitter fans can sound bigger than they are, thanks to the power of social media, I know Hopkins work as an actor and I am sure he must have given a great performance , maybe even better to win over Boseman, who primarily would have stood a better chance of winning because we will sadly never see him act again. I thought he was going to win because he had the media support and also the Oscars may have given the award more as a thank you for everything gift and the legacy of black panther, add all that to his own performance in the film, should have been a shoe in win for Boseman, but I guess that was not enough to outdo Hopkins.


Some people just need to apply logic and common sense. if they did, they will not losing their minds on twitter as they do all the time over what should be a non issues or worse bemoaning Hopkins. He is legend at this point and will get another Oscar soon for lifetime achievement, The attack on him is ridiculous for sure.....not to mention very ignorant.

I agree, the Best Actor award is a non-issue.

I get the love people have for Boseman and I guess I'm sorry they're so upset or feel letdown over this. I've seen people resurrect the "Oscars So White" slogan but it annoys me because it's friggin' Anthony Hopkins. The dude is in a class of his own (and in my opinion I thought he should have earned Best Supporting Actor last year for The Two Popes). But that's just me. I did watch both Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Father and I preferred The Father (it's just the kind of film I enjoy). Not to say Boseman's performance wasn't great, it was, but I don't think any actor can compete with Hopkins at this point.

[Zauriel]

This year was an anomaly. Most people never heard of, much less saw any of the nominees.
.

That includes me. Even if it wasn't for the pandemic, I don't go to the theaters anymore in a long time. I am not comfortable with crowds. I prefer to watch movies alone. That is why I'm watching them on video.

[basbash99]

I don't think they can get their ratings back.

Its a boring ceremony, that goes on way too long, in an era where people can find out who won the awards online in real time. What is the incentive to watch?

I mean if you want to try to improve things, i would say

1. make sure you have a funny, entertaining host

2. limit the broadcast to maybe the 10 categories of awards people are most interested in (cut out most of the technical categories etc)

3. make sure the speeches are given by actors/directors (i.e. celebrities known to the public) rather than producers and others that the public doesn't know

But tbh i'm not sure any of that would really affect things all that much. its just not a show that people need to tune in to watch live, most are content to read about the results the next day (assuming they care at all) and even diehards can just check the internet to find out who's winning what whilst they do something else more fun.

[Tofali]

Majority of what the Oscars awards are movie most ppl don't go out of their way to seek and watch. Most years the movies they award most ppl didn't even see. It has nothing to do with wokeness or Covid. Their exclusionary selectiveness is just catching up to the Academy. We cant blame Covid when they mostly award small movies

[WebLurker]

I don't watch the Oscars since practically nothing I've seen is nominated.

Many people are saying that some nominations for the Snyder Cut would have brought the mass audience back in.

Seeing how many people it brought to HBO Max, I kinda doubt that. (Still, it would be the ultimate middle finger to the nay sayers if it happened. Also, seeing just what a crazy story and comedy of errors the Snyder Cut, let alone the Snyderverse, as a whole was, there would be something poetic about it being nominated. The bow on the whole package, as it were.)

[Powerboy]

I am sure many know by now the oscar ratings crashed to less than 10 million views. Despite some extreme right wing people in the media taking time to gloat and mock the oscars for going what they call ''woke'' as the reason they have lost 90% of their audience. I think there is more to explaining why people don't watch the Oscars any more.

Where do you think they went wrong, that they have lost almost 40 million viewers since the 2010s?

The woke stuff is ridiculous to begin with. The movies some Conservatives claim flopped and were so hated because they were woke were generally movies that made or closed in on a billion dollars. It has no basis in reality.

Then there's the near total lack of theatrical movies in 2020 for the 2021 Oscars to nominate.

From what I am told, there was a time long ago when the movie that won the Oscar was among the popular movies of the year. Sure, there was less to choose from then. But, to use an analogy, it's hard to get somebody to attend a horse race when they have no horse in the race. Most people only watch a sports event if one of the teams is "their" team".

When someone is hoping for a movie they saw and liked to win, and there's a decent chance it could win, and even if it doesn't, the one that does win is one they saw and liked, they'll watch. When most people haven't seen and could care less about any of the nominees or if a movie they like is a token that has no chance of winning, they won't watch.

[Powerboy]

2021: 9.85 million (Best Picture winner: Nomadland)

2020: 23.6 million (Parasite)

2019: 29.6 million (Green Book)

2018: 26.5 million (The Shape of Water)

2017: 32.9 million (Moonlight)

2016: 34.4 million (Spotlight)

2015: 37.2 million (Birdman)

2014: 43.7 million (12 Years a Slave)

2013: 40.3 million (Argo)

2012: 39.3 million (The Artist)

2011: 37.9 million (The King's Speech)

2010: 41.7 million (The Hurt Locker)

2009: 36.3 million (Slumdog Millionaire)

2008: 32.0 million (No Country for Old Men)

2007: 40.1 million (The Departed)

2006: 38.9 million (Crash)

2005: 42.1 million (Million Dollar Baby)

2004: 43.5 million (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)

2003: 33.0 million (Chicago)

2002: 41.7 million (A Beautiful Mind)

2001: 42.9 million (Gladiator)

2000: 46.3 million (American Beauty)

1999: 45.6 million (Shakespeare in Love)

1998: 55.2 million (Titanic)


Things seem to have gone wrong for them somewhere around 2017-2018.

Speaking only for myself, it might be telling that the last Oscar winning movie that I've watched was "Birdman", preceded by "Million Dollar Baby", "LOTR", "Gladiator" and "Titanic".

Like Vakanai, the movies that get nominated and win are generally just not interesting enough to me to get me to spend two hours watching them. I might like them if I did but lack of core interest in the main problem.

Edit: Had you gone back further, I think the previous one would have been "Unforgiven".

[C_Miller]

The Academy has two options -- go full arthouse (like they did when they gave the award to Parasite last year, as people noted 'the year the actually best picture won best picture') which would chase away ratings for good and alienate it from mainstream tastes completely -- or go sellout, give Marvel movies Oscars, give Kevin Feige four awards in one night and so on.

The fact is the movie business has crunched the "middle film". Time was that A Beautiful Mind, or The Departed earned solid money at the box-office i.e. $100mn+ and as such it counted as a popular successful film that attracted viewers to follow its fortunes at the Oscars. In the 90s you had Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump which also fit that.

Now that's all gone.

I guess it comes down to the chicken or the egg question. Are studios taking the easy way out by shifting all money to franchise movies and manufacturing demand for them or did the audience tastes change and they only want franchise movies, so the studios are trying to match? In 2019, the top 10 highest grossing films were all sequels, remakes or based on a comic book. That's where the box office is and honestly, I think the only way to get audiences would have been putting Avengers Endgame against Captain Marvel and Joker, but I don't want that.

Last year I believe thread the needle for films. All the nominated movies made at least 200 million at the Box Office, well at least the ones that didn't go straight to streaming. The Oscars before that I think took it too far into sellout territory with movies like Bohemian Rhapsody and Black Panther being nominated. The year before that was one of my favorite sets of Best Pictures in recent memory, but the audiences clearly didn't agree as only two films made at least 200 million dollars (Get Out and Dunkirk). But at the end of the day, the one that I believe was the Goldilocks ended up with the least amount of viewers until this year.

If I am the Academy, I would lean in to not caring about ratings. I don't think it's a good idea to pander to the changing tastes of audience. It may make me arrogant or pretentious, but I think the taste of the general audience has decreased over time and I'd hate to see the Oscars sink to that level of pandering.