Once upon a time, the annual Oscars was one of the most anticipated
television events of the year with the audience all over the world waiting for their
favorite movies to be honored. However, for a few years, viewership for the
same show has declined significantly. In fact, this year the live show had an
audience of around 23.6 million – a 20% decline from the 29.5 million
viewership last year.
Experts claim that the major reason for the decline in viewership is a result of online streaming that has become prevalent over the
years. Others also suggest that the event was held at an earlier date of 2020,
which probably lessened the hype.
Another possible reason for the low viewership can be that
the Academy Awards has been honoring low-budget movies for some time now. This year,
South Korean movie Parasite won the
award for Best Picture. However, a majority of the audience has not seen the
movie and prefer the traditional blockbuster hits instead of low-budget
creations.
If this continues, can we expect the audience to tune out
the Oscars completely or develop a bonding for smaller films?
