TV Ratings: Oscars Drop Again in Early Numbers

Hollywood Reporter ^ | February 27, 2017 | Michael O'Connell

[C19fan]

The longest Academy Awards telecast in a decade culminated in a surreal mix-up over the best picture winner. A long and eventful 89th Academy Awards continued the ABC telecast's recent downward ratings trend.

Early numbers have the lengthy show off 4 percent from comparable stats in 2016, averaging an overnight 22.4 rating among metered market households. That measurement, courtesy of Nielsen, is shy of last year's — which saw its overnight score (a 23.4 rating) ultimately translate to 34.43 million viewers.

[ealgeone]

Boom!

[Cementjungle]

Pretty sure they count the “DVR’d” live recordings in their Nielsens... “Nielsen’s Live Plus”

No, they don't... unless you're a Nielsen family equipped with the digital equipment (People Meter) instead of the manual diary many still use.

My last full time job was as Director of Technology for Nielsen Entertainment, based in Hollywood. I'm pretty familiar with the issues, myths and technology around all this stuff.

We would have loved to get direct data for all cable households, but there are many problems with that approach. For one, we don't know the family size, ages, races, etc. for members in every household. Another big issue is that a lot of people are "cutting the cord" these days... now watching movies using Amazon, Netflix, etc. and watching stuff like the Oscars over the air... which offers no way to measure.

The networks understand the issues, and strongly resist efforts to more accurately measure actual viewership. The Nielsen families are inherently biased... usually being avid TV watchers (which is why they agreed to be Nielsen families in the first place). This over-inflates reality, and the networks are quite happy with that.

The networks supplement the Nielsen Family data with surveys, where we would sample other viewers via phone and web surveys, and use that data to "adjust" the diary data for the benefit of their advertisers. But still, the demographic data (age/race/income/geographic) are key when looking at and using the data for anything at all.

[HokieMom]

Ryan Knight‏@the_ryan_knight 11h11 hours ago

Why didn't Warren Beatty announce the Election results? #Oscars #Oscar2017 #OscarMistake #Moonlight

[dsrtsage]

What and who is the demographic that watches the Oscars. I’m 50, I have traveled for a living for 30 years, and know people all over the US from 2 years to 102 years old, and not only do I not personally know anybody who watches them, but the last time I remember hearing anybody talk about them was when I was still in high school

[FlingWingFlyer]

Only an idiot would have wasted four hours watching the America-hating, leftwing elite pass gas last night. The highlight of the Hate Trump Fest is all over the news this morning. The rest was just three hours and fifty five minutes of filler garbage.

[usflagwaver]

So I did not have to carefully avoid turning my TV on or past ABC, even for one second, so that they did not get credit by Nielsen? I always wondered about that.

[Cementjungle]

So I did not have to carefully avoid turning my TV on or past ABC, even for one second, so that they did not get credit by Nielsen? I always wondered about that.

Correct... and if you happen to get a phone survey about what you watched... tell them you had no idea the Oscars were on last night!

[FrankR]

I always DVR America’s Got Talent, and skip over the judges ego antics, the “sad back stories”, and commercials. Cuts the hour viewing time down to about 30 minutes, or less.

Also, Hannity, Carlson, judgejeanine, and Lou dobbs...cut out the 5 minute commercial breaks, and mouthy liberal guests.

[mowowie]

Last time i watched was when fat ass went on his epic rant against Bush.
I was sitting at a bar watching war coverage when some metro dude asked that the oscars be put on the tv.
I almost got in a fight that night....

[mowowie]

Most people never shut off their cable box and the same channel is on when they are out of the house, sleeping or when the tv is shut off.

[nutmeg]

Also, Hannity, Carlson, judgejeanine, and Lou dobbs...cut out the 5 minute commercial breaks, and mouthy liberal guests.

Yup. The DVR / TiVo is the best invention since the remote, IMO.

[Cementjungle]

As much as I hate the whole thing, I am proud of my friend's daughter (Katja) for her costume work. She normally works for Nick Cannon and Sharon Ozbourne, but sometimes gets involved in these other things:

[Cementjungle]

Most people never shut off their cable box and the same channel is on when they are out of the house, sleeping or when the tv is shut off.

I always turn on the ID channel (murder crime stories) in the bedroom when I go to bed. You can follow the story without actually watching, and something about the cadence of the narrators always puts me right to sleep. It stays on for hours before I wake up and turn it off.

[vooch]

worldwide annual revenue of movie business $10 billion
stagnant revenues growing less than inflation ( it shrinking )
free cash flow - nil

worldwide revenue of video game industry $90 billion
growing at double digit rates
free cash flow - $20 billion

Hollywood is over

[mowowie]

Sounds like a good idea to help fall asleep, my doctor prescribed a low dose zanax pill for the same.
Unfortunately my local town run shitty cable service does not carry that channel..

[HotHunt]

Were the Oscars on last night? If I had known that, I would have watched something else, anything else.

So I watched The Hunt For Red October, always a good movie. And then the latest episode of Black Sails.

[Jaded]

The giving the award to the wrong movie was intentional.

Definitely. There is no way it was an accident.

[Buckeye McFrog]

The only Oscars worth watching are
the fake ones at the end of Naked Gun 33 1/3.