The Oscars get their biggest audience in 5 years despite dominance of 'Anora' and other small films

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Smaller movies didn't mean smaller viewer numbers for the Oscars.

An estimated 19.7 million viewers watched Sunday night's 97th Academy Awards ceremony, the biggest audience in five years, according to figures released by ABC on Tuesday.

The triumph of “Anora,” which won five Oscars including best picture, and other relatively little-seen favorites and winners still brought a lift over the 19.5 million viewers last year, when the major hit “Oppenheimer” won the top categories and the even bigger hit “Barbie” was a major presence.

The Conan O'Brien-hosted telecast did have the benefit of 10 nominations for the big hit “Wicked” and an opening performance from its stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The film won for its production design and costumes.

The show had an especially big lift among people aged 18 to 49, driven by mobile and laptop watches from younger viewers. And the network said it was the most watched primetime entertainment show of 2025.

Still, the upward trend comes from an all-time low during the pandemic, and changes in viewing habits for virtually all live events other than the Super Bowl mean the numbers the show once had are very unlikely ever to be reached again,

A high water mark of 55 million people watched “Titanic” clean up in 1998, and the show didn't have fewer than 30 million viewers until 2018, when it dipped to 26.5 million. The bottom fell out with the pandemic-diminished show in 2021, seen by 9.85 million. It began rebounding in 2022 — the year of Will Smith's notorious slap of Chris Rock — with 16.6 million.

And Hulu's first-time livestream of this year's Oscars cut off in the final moments of the show, making viewers miss Mikey Madison's best actress win and the best picture win of “Anora” in real time.

The Oscars still significantly outdraws other awards shows. Its nearly 20 million viewers were far more than the Grammys' 15.4 million.

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