Oscars ratings in US dip to four-year low, defying expectations

Hopes that Sinners and One Battle After Another would bring in a big audience dashed as viewers fell to 17.9m, a 9% drop on last year’s 19.7m

Hopes had been high that the popularity of big hitters Sinners and One Battle After Another would translate into a bigger audience for the Oscars ceremony telecast. Yet numbers hit a four-year-low in the US, where the show reached 17.9 million viewers on ABC and Hulu, down about 9% from last year’s 19.7 million.

Many had presumed the five-year high that 2025 represented was the product of interest in cinema bouncing back post-Covid – all the more cheering given that the movie that dominated, Sean Baker’s Anora, had not been a major box office player.