简体中文
ActressBrieLarsonholdsherawardforBestActressinaLeadingRoleforthefilm"Room"duringtheVanityFairOscarPartyinBeverlyHills,CaliforniaFeb29,2016.[Photo/Agencies]
With34.3millionviewers,the88thAcademyAwardsbroughtinlowestviewershipsince2008,accordingtopreliminaryfiguresreleasedbyNielsen.
TheaudienceforSunday'sceremonyhostedbycomedianChrisRockattheDolbyTheatreinHollywoodwas6.3percentsmallerthanthepreliminary36.6-millionaverageforlastyear'sceremonyhostedbyactorNeilPatrickHarris.Lastyear'sceremonyaveraged37.26millionviewers,thelowestsince2009,showedthefiguresreleasedonMonday.
Despitethedecrease,theaudiencewasthelargestforanentertainmentprogramsincelastyear'sAcademyAwardstelecast.TheOscarsaretraditionallytelevision'smost-watchedentertainmentprogramoftheyear.
Nearly58millionpeoplewatchedatleastsixminutesofthetelecast,8.1percentlessthanlastyear's63million.Viewershipwasup1percentamongviewers'ages18-34,witha9.4ratingcomparedtoa9.3rating.
Theratingistheaveragepercentageoftotalviewersoraparticulargroupwatching.Viewershipwasalsoupamongallmaledemographicgroups.Therewasa20percentincreaseamongmenages18to34,a6percentincreaseamongmenages18to49andmenages25to54.
Newsofthedropinoverallratingsforthetelecastwascheeredbylocalcivilrightsactivistswhocalledforaboycottofthetelecastoverthelackofblacknomineesinanyoftheactingcategoriesforthesecondyearinarow.
ButhostedbyRockwhohaspopularityamongtheblackaudiencecouldprobablymitigatetheeffectofanyboycott.ThelasttimeRockhostedtheOscarsin2005,AfricanAmericansaccountedfor13percentoftheaudience.Inrecentyears,thefigurehashoveredaround10percent.
BasedonOscarratingshistory,alackofmajorblockbusterbox-officehitsamongthebestpicturenomineesdidnothelp.While"TheRevenant,""TheMartian"and"MadMax:FuryRoad"werepopularwithmoviegoers,othernominees,including"Spotlight"and"Room,"weren'twidelyseenbyAmericanaudiences.
"Brooklyn,"nowinits17thweek,hasgrossed$36.5millioninticketsalesintheUSandCanada,while"Room"hasgrossedjust$13.4millionattheboxofficeover19weeks,accordingtoboxofficeanalysiswebsiteComScore.
Themost-watchedOscarceremonywasin1998,whenanaverageof55.25millionviewerswatchedthen-boxofficerecord-setter"Titanic"winsthebestpictureOscarandactorBillyCrystalwasthehost.Individualviewershipfiguresbeganbeingkeptin1974.
Forratingspurposes,theceremonyisconsideredtohaverunforthreehours,21minutes,thelongestsinceatleast2007,whichraneightminuteslonger.UnderNielsenrules,theratingscoverthetimefromthestartoftheceremonyuntiltheendofthefinalcommercialbreak.
Viewershipformostformsofprogramminghavedecreasedinrecentyearsbecauseofincreasedcompetitionforviewers'attentionfromcabletelevision,theInternet,viewingprogrammingrecordedearlierandvideogames.
