Based on the fast national ratings for Sunday, the Academy Awards telecast should average around a 13.4 rating with adults 18-49 (adjusting the preliminary 12.1 rating upward to account for the Pacific time zone seeing the show three hours before the normal network feed pattern). If our estimated adjustment is correct, this would be the best Oscars rating since 2007, when The Departed beat Little Miss Sunshine for Best Picture, and just ahead of 2010 when Hurt Locker stunned Avatar for the win.
We are also estimating the total viewer audience (ages 2 and over) will average just below 42 million, beating 2010’s telecast.
We will update these numbers as the official time-zone-adjusted ratings are released. The official nationals came in at a 13.0 adult 18-49 rating and 40.3 million viewers 2+ during an average minute of The Oscars, a touch lower than we forecast this morning and now the best Academy Awards since only 2010 (but still up from the last two years filled with art house pictures as Best Picture contenders).
| Oscars Ratings Track ABC |
Adult 18-49 Rating |
Persons 2+ (millions) |
Best Picture Winner |
Major Contender(s) for Best Picture |
| 2013 |
Feb 24 |
13.0 |
40.4 |
Argo |
Lincoln |
| 2012 |
Feb 26 |
11.7 |
39.3 |
The Artist |
Hugo, The Help |
| 2011 |
Feb 27 |
11.8 |
37.6 |
The King’s Speech |
Social Network |
| 2010 |
Mar 7 |
13.3 |
41.6 |
The Hurt Locker |
Avatar |
| 2009 |
Feb 22 |
12.1 |
36.9 |
Slumdog Millionaire |
Milk |
| 2008 |
Feb 24 |
10.7 |
31.8 |
No Country for Old Men |
Juno |
| 2007 |
Feb 25 |
14.1 |
39.9 |
The Departed |
Little Miss Sunshine |
| 2006 |
Mar 5 |
13.9 |
38.6 |
Crash |
Brokeback Mountain |
| 2005 |
Feb 27 |
15.1 |
42.2 |
Million Dollar Baby |
Sideways |
| 2004 |
Feb 29 |
15.3 |
43.6 |
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King |
Mystic River, Seabiscuit |
note: 2013 figures are now official
