A Shorter Broadcast and No Politics
In August, the Academy announced a plan to change the Oscars: the addition of a popular film category and a three-hour limit to the broadcast. (By a net 40-point margin, adults said they would be more likely to watch an awards show if they were familiar with the nominees, and by a net 11 points they said they’d be more likely to watch if the program were the length of a film).
The Academy ultimately decided to forgo the new category in 2019, noting that “implementing any new award nine months into the year creates challenges for films that have already been released.” Even though the creation of the popular film category has been postponed, the Academy said it will continue with plans to shorten the broadcast by presenting select awards during commercial breaks.
Such changes come at a dire time for the Oscars and other awards shows. Viewership of awards shows in general has been on the decline, and ratings for the Oscars have been been falling since 2014. Nielsen reported that about 26.6 million people watched the 2018 broadcast — its lowest ratings ever.
The Grammys and Primetime Emmys have also seen a downturn in viewership as well, with the 2018 telecasts bringing in 19.8 million (a drop from 2017’s 26.1 million viewers) and 10.2 million viewers (a drop from 2017’s 11.39 million viewers), respectively.
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