The Oscars appears to be losing its shine.
In the last 16 years the audience tuning in to watch the Academy Awards ceremony has dropped from more than 42 million to just 9.8 million who tuned in to watch Nomadland scoop the top prize of Best Picture on Sunday.
The short term
There are some pretty valid excuses for why this year saw less interest than most. With cinemas closed for much of the last 12 months, audiences aren't as familiar with the movies and stars that are in them. On top of that the ceremony itself was lacking a little bit of its usual pomp and ceremony. The red carpet was slimmed down, some of the acceptance speeches came from satellite hubs in London, Paris and Sydney and a strict "no Zoom" rule meant that Anthony Hopkins, who won Best Actor, wasn't heard from at all (he was asleep in Wales).
The long term
With the rise of streaming and on-demand content, a lot of traditional TV shows have reported declining viewership — and there's a strong argument to be made for the Oscars to change up the format if they want to stay relevant. At the moment a typical Oscars broadcast is around 3-and-a-half hours long. That's a long time to watch hoping for something interesting to happen, when you know you can catch the clipped highlights in a short video the next day.
