The Academy Awards are losing their magic. The 98th Oscars pulled in just 17.9 million viewers on ABC and Hulu, a 9 percent drop from last year and the smallest audience since 2022. For an event once called Hollywood’s biggest night, that number raises real questions. Are Americans just tuning out?
Even with Conan O’Brien returning as host for his second year, the show could not keep viewers watching. O’Brien tried his trademark mix of comedy and light sarcasm, but the long pauses and forced jokes only made things worse. The film One Battle After Another took home Best Picture, but hardly anyone was there to see it happen live.
Many watching noticed something else—the politics. The show leaned into left-wing messaging again, pushing social statements that felt more like lectures than entertainment. Fans at home seemed to notice. While Hollywood kept clapping for itself, most people kept scrolling through their phones.
Online, though, the Oscars were everywhere. The event pulled 184 million impressions across Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, up 42 percent from last year. Short clips, sharp memes, and quick reactions spread fast. Viewers may not be watching full broadcasts anymore, but they still like a headline and a 15-second highlight.
The problem is bigger than one night. Every major awards show has seen numbers drop as people move to streaming platforms and short-form content. Back in 1998, the Oscars drew 57 million viewers. That now feels like another world. Even before the pandemic, most years easily doubled today’s audience.
The ceremony stretched more than three hours with endless musical acts, tribute reels, and commercial breaks. Some critics say modern viewers, used to on-demand shows and instant results, have no patience for that. They might be right. Why sit through a slow-paced telecast when the highlights appear online minutes later?
But Hollywood isn’t giving up. The Academy has already announced a major change: starting in 2029, the Oscars will move off ABC and stream live on YouTube. That shift aims to reach younger viewers who prefer swiping to sitting still. Whether it will work is anyone’s guess.
Insiders say the decline in viewership was inevitable. The Oscars now compete not just with Netflix and Disney+, but also with social media, video games, and endless online content. There are simply too many screens fighting for attention.
How can the Oscars capture a generation that doesn’t even watch network TV? Without serious changes, the ratings are just going to keep sinking, because Hollywood will never accept that ordinary Americans have moved on from its self-celebration.
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English (US) · 