The 2026 Oscars drew 17.9 million viewers across ABC and Hulu on Sunday night, down 9% from last year and slipping to a four-year low.
The drop in viewership broke a four-year growth streak for the Academy Awards, which reached a post-pandemic high of 19.7 million viewers last year. Among adults 18-49, the ceremony saw a 14% decline from last year, per The Associated Press.
Two to three decades ago, the Oscars reliably attracted 30 to 40 million viewers, peaking in 1998, when “Titanic” mania pushed the audience past 55 million.
Today, most of the ceremony’s attention comes online, where viewers can skip the three-hour telecast for short clips and social posts. Social impression of this year’s telecast rose 42.4%, generating more than 184 million impressions across social platforms.
Reviews of the award ceremony, including Conan O’Brien’s return as host, were mostly positive. The telecast earned an average 3.92 rating among adults 18-49, down from last year’s 4.54 but up from 2024’s 3.82, per Variety.
Leading Sunday’s ceremony was the action-drama “One Battle After Another,” which took home six coveted golden statuettes, including best picture and best director for Paul Thomas Anderson. On its heels was “Sinners,” a box-office hit, which claimed four Oscars, including Michael B. Jordan’s first best actor win.
Oscar organizers pushed the ceremony back this year to avoid clashing with the Winter Olympics, but other live sports broadcasts could have drawn viewers elsewhere.
The World Baseball Classic, a triennial international tournament, aired a semifinal between the United States and the Dominican Republic on Sunday night, drawing a record 7.3 million viewers.
Additionally, the NCAA hosted Selection Sunday, when it announces matchups and tournament brackets for March Madness, drawing 6.4 million viewers.
Despite this year’s plunge in viewership, the Academy Awards remained the most-watched award show of the 2025-2026 season. Other major ceremonies saw similar declines, with the Golden Globes down 6% to 8.6 million viewers and the Grammy Awards down 6% to 14.4 million viewers.
The Academy Awards will air on ABC and Hulu for two more years before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ends its five-decade partnership with ABC in 2028. Beginning in 2029, the award show will air exclusively on YouTube.
“We are thrilled to enter into a multifaceted global partnership with YouTube to be the future home of the Oscars and our year-round Academy programming,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said in a joint statement.
“The Academy is an international organization, and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience possible — which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the film community. ... We will be able to celebrate cinema, inspire new generations of filmmakers and provide access to our film history on an unprecedented global scale.”