ABC, and its advertisers, were expecting this year's Oscars to follow the trends of years past, with ratings increasing. How else could they rationalize charging marketers $120,000 more per 30-second spot?
Well, they did charge them more: $1.82 million per ad. Except this year, ratings slid the other way. Way the other way.
Not only is Nielsen estimating (hah!) 21 percent fewer viewers this year, but the broadcast, with 14 percent fewer than 2003's worst-watched broadcast ever (33 million), is suddenly the new least-watched Oscars ever.
Looking at early data, Nielsen figures the show will earn a 21.9 rating and 33 share; final tallies will be known once more reports are in. Interestingly, ABC anticipated this, and told advertisers they should expect lower numbers.
Naturally, the pundits are going to weigh in and tell you exactly why the Oscars had fewer people tuning in.
Was it the writers strike that turned them off? Were they wasting too much time on Facebook? Do they realize they can just find out which nominee actually wins in real time online, and then visit YouTube for any worthwhile acceptance speeches or bloopers?
Or maybe it had to do with none of the worthwhile awards being revealed until after our bedtime.
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Perhaps the total disconnect with what the snooty Hollywood elites think is a good movie, and what the average American actually watches is one reason.
Up till recent years, I had at least HEARD of most of the nominees or films, but not this year. These undereducated and pompous elitists got exactly what I thought—massive tune out. What's really funny, is they had NO competition. The NASCAR race was washed out, Law and Order prehistoric intent which is so worn out it's pathetic, and the rest of the sorry lineup should have been easy pickings.
Oh well, what do us poor hicks know about good movie making. We spent a billion dollars watching just three commercial movies last year and they were completely shut out of the Oscars. Go figgure.
Hopefully it means that people are sick of watching self-important idiots pat themselves on the back. For four excrutiatingly long hours straight. The people who put this little dog and pony show on better wise up and cut the fat of endless clip montages. I predict they will be on the Hallmark Channel in three years opposite the Miss America Pageant on CMT.