Ratings for the 97th Academy Awards Are In!

Last night brought an Oscar ceremony that again seemed to mostly go over well, both critically and in terms of audience reactions. It was long, there was that Hulu glitch, but the winners themselves seem to please people. Now, did the Academy Awards actually increase their viewership again? Well, the ratings are in and the answer is…actually, yes.

According to Disney, the 97th Academy Awards experienced an increase in viewership, after initial reports suggested a decrease. You can see the numbers below, but if this trend continues, it’s a good sign for the Oscars, without a doubt.

Here is what Disney had to say:

As viewing patterns continue to evolve, there is the potential to see a greater difference between Nielsen’s Fast Nationals and Final L+SD reporting.  In the case of Sunday night’s live telecast of “The Oscars,” we saw dramatic growth with younger viewers from mobile and PC viewing that was not captured in their Fast National reporting yesterday. As a result, “The Oscars” was up in both total viewers and the Demo in Live+ Same Day reporting.

• The 97^th Oscars delivered a FIVE-YEAR HIGH IN BOTH TOTAL VIEWERS (19.69 million) AND ADULTS 18-49 (4.54 rating), driven by mobile and PC viewing by younger viewers.

• Additional viewing from digital devices (Mobile/PC/Tablet) – added 1.645M viewers to total 19.693M Viewers. 

• The show rose dramatically over last year in Adults 18-49 (+ 19% vs. 3.82 rating). 

• Driven by younger viewing, including increases with younger males, the show also rose remarkably over the 2024 telecast in Adults 18-34 (+28% – 3.92 vs. 3.05 rating), delivering a six year high – since 2/24/19.

• “The Oscars” stands as the No. 1 primetime entertainment telecast in both Total Viewers (19.69 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.54 rating) for the 2024-2025 season.

• Also, as a reminder, the 97th Oscars earned 104.2 million total social interactions, ranking as the No. 1 most social TV program season-to-date, outperforming both “The Grammy Awards” (102.2 million interactions) and “The Super Bowl” (62.4 million) this season for the first time on record.