Academy Awards television audience plummets to 9.85 million
Maria Bakalova, from left, Andra Day and Regina King are interviewed and Marlee Matlin walks the red carpet at the Oscars on Sunday, April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark Terrill, Pool) (Mark Terrill, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
NEW YORK – The Academy Awards television audience on ABC plunged to 9.85 million viewers, less than half of Oscars' previous low and continuing the startling trend of viewer tune out for awards shows.
The Nielsen company's preliminary estimate released Monday shows that the audience to watch “Nomadland” win best picture was 58% below last year's tally of 23.6 million, the prior low-water mark.
Producers tried a hostless event Sunday night with a small audience of nominees and guests who weren't wearing masks. But in a year where movie theaters were mostly closed due to the pandemic, people were either unfamiliar with or unexcited about movies they primarily streamed at home.
Both the Golden Globes (6.9 million viewers) and Grammy Awards (9.2 million) had record low audiences earlier this year.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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