The Oscars got some solid TV ratings on ABC Sunday night.
According to Deadline, the show got a TV rating of 21.6, which means roughly 21.6 percent of households tuned in. According to the same report, that’s over a 14-percent bump from the 2018 broadcast.
An exact number of viewers won’t be out until later today, but the early numbers from the show should have ABC executives smiling. (RELATED: People Can’t Stop Talking About This Powerful Moment From The Oscars. It Will Give You Chills)
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper perform “Shallow” from ‘A Star Is Born’ at the #Oscars.pic.twitter.com/ouS2xCxDN0
— Lights, Camera, Pod (@LightsCameraPod) February 25, 2019
Given how Americans have been turned off by award shows, I’m actually a little surprised that the Oscars got such a ratings bump from last year.
If anything, I would have figured the numbers would have continued to tank.
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The legacy of Freddie Mercury lives on. @ramimalek with his Oscar for Best Actor.
It’s also worth noting that there was plenty of drama surrounding the show this year after Kevin Hart pulled out as the host.
For those of you who might not know, he withdrew after outrage over tweets that were several years old that people believed were anti-LGTQ. It was absurd, but maybe the attention it generated was a part of the reason the ratings went up.
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Maybe award shows aren’t in as much trouble as we all initially thought. Of course, this could also be an outlier. It’s too early to tell, but I’m sure ABC is very happy right now.