The 2018 Academy Awards ceremony saw its TV audience stumble to an all-time low on Sunday night. The live show was broadcast by ABC and it attracted an average of 26.5 million viewers according to Nielsen, a 20 percent decline on last year's 32.9 million. The previous record low was set in 2008 when 31.8 million viewers tuned in to watch Jon Stewart host the event. That year, Oscar chaos was narrowly avoided after an 11-week writers' strike in Hollywood.
Several factors may have influenced the low viewership figures for the 2018 show including last year's best-picture fiasco when La La Land was mistakenly announced the winner as well as more recent accusations of serious sexual misconduct in Hollywood. Another key reason some viewers may have avoided The Oscars on Sunday night was a lack of box office dynamite on the podium. Best Picture winner The Shape of Water has earned approximately $126 million at the global box office so far but the highest-grossing movie of the year raked in over $1.3 billion.
That's nothing new with other recent Best Picture winners like Moonlight (2017) bringing in $65 million, Spotlight (2016) making $88 million and Birdman (2015) grossing $103 million. The last film to win big at The Oscars with true blockbuster appeal was the third and final part of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy in 2004 which enjoyed box office success to the tune of $1.1 billion.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
