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The 97th Academy Awards, televised on March 2, 2025, declined by 7% from last year to attract approximately 18.1 million viewers on ABC and Hulu platforms.
The downturn stops the increasing trend of the past three years, where the Oscars had been gradually regaining audiences from the pandemic-low 10.4 million viewers in 2021.
There were several reasons for this decline, including technical issues with Hulu’s inaugural live streaming of the ceremony. Several subscribers had trouble logging in at the beginning of the ceremony, missing significant early performances, including a duet by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Compounding these issues, the livestream abruptly cut out before the winners of major awards like Best Actress and Best Picture were revealed, angering viewers and unleashing a whirlwind of criticism on social media platforms.
In response, Disney, which runs Hulu, apologized and made the complete event replay available on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. The fiasco underscores the challenges streaming services face in airing faultless live programming, a problem other providers like Netflix and Paramount+ have run into before.
The duration of the ceremony also contributed to the viewership decline. The 3-hour and 47-minute ceremony was one of the longer Oscars broadcasts, which might have affected audience retention. Though not the longest ever, longer run times can discourage viewers from remaining attentive throughout the ceremony.
In spite of these, the Oscars had interesting moments and triumphs. Low-budget independent film “Anora” was the night’s big winner with five awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Mikey Madison. Best Actor went to Adrien Brody for his role in “The Brutalist,” his second Oscar since “The Pianist” 22 years ago. Additionally, Zoe Saldaña made history as the first Dominican American to win an Oscar, winning Best Supporting Actress for “Emilia Pérez,” and Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win Best Costume Design for his work on "Wicked."
The ceremony, hosted by Conan O’Brien, was well-liked for his comedic hosting. The event was, nonetheless, marred by Hulu’s technical problems, which not only frustrated viewers but also called into question the utilization of streaming services for live events from the viewpoint of reliability. This will have implications on future partnerships and plans for streaming high-caliber events, as the Academy considers its choices with the expiration of its Disney contract in 2028.
In total, the 97th Academy Awards showed a combination of issues, including technical glitches and a lengthy broadcast, as a consequence of which viewership fell by 7%. Amidst continuously evolving media consumption habits, the solution to such issues will continue to be key to maintaining and growing live television event audiences.
