Despite Drama, Oscars Deliver Low Ratings

If The Walking Dead wants to blame competition from The Academy Awards for its low ratings this week, its argument isn't helped by the fact that relatively few younger viewers tuned in to the Oscars. The awards telecast was, in fact, the second-lowest-rated edition of the show in history.

Total viewership of the Oscars came in at 32.9 million, but only about a third of those viewers were between the ages of 18 and 49, the demographic that's most important to networks and advertisers. Viewership in that category was only 10.9 million.

By comparison, the night's episode of TWD drew 10.42 million total viewers and 5.4 million viewers in the 18-49 group.

The Oscars telecast was marked by unprecedented drama, as the wrong film was initially announced as the winner of Best Picture, the night's final and biggest award. The snafu created headlines the next day, but aside from that, audience interest in the awards was muted.

It didn't help that, according to a survey conducted by The Hollywood Reporter before the broadcast, nearly two thirds of Americans were unable to name a single nominee in the Best Picture category.

For the record, the award went to Moonlight, not La La Land.