Oscars 2023 ratings increases viewership by 2 million after Will Smith’s slap

The ratings for the Oscars 2023 broadcast increased in viewership this year following Will Smith’s infamous slap on Chris Rock last year.

According to a press release shared by ABC, citing initial data from The Nielsen Company, the 95th Academy Awards broadcast, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, attracted an average audience of 18.7 million total viewers and scored a 4.0 rating among adults 18 to 49. That’s a 12-percent increase in total viewers from last year, which had 16.7 million.

The Oscars broadcast outdid February’s Grammys on CBS (12.5 million viewers) and September’s Emmys on NBC (5.9 million viewers), per the press release. The Golden Globes, which returned to NBC after a year of not airing on the network, got 6.3 million viewers in January.

Sunday’s Oscars competed with the season 1 finale of HBO’s hit The Last of Us, which, according to Variety, managed to reach a series high of its own in terms of ratings: An estimated 8.2 million people tuned in for the ninth episode.

This year’s numbers, while marking a three-year high, are still among the lowest in Academy Awards history. Variety reported that the biggest ratings came for the 1998 show 55.3 million viewers when James Cameron’s blockbuster Titanic won Best Picture. The outlet added that the last time the broadcast had more than 20 million watch was in 2020 when Parasite was the Best Picture winner, 23.6 million tuned in.

Deadline reported that the lowest ratings came in 2021 when there was no host, and 10.4 million tuned in.

Oscars producer and showrunner Glenn Weiss told The Hollywood Reporter after the show Sunday night what his hopes were for the ratings tallies.

“You know what, you can only hope. What we wanted to do was go out and execute a show that people would really like and a show people would talk about,” he said. “We think we did accomplish that. I sure hope that [Monday] delivers good news in the ratings front, but either way, I think it was a successful evening.”

Weiss added that he is proud of “the whole night” and praised Kimmel, 55, who hosted for his third time.

“First of all, I thought Jimmy did a great job. He kept the show moving, but he also kept it lighthearted and entertaining enough that it didn’t feel all too serious,” he said. “The winners throughout the night really took us on a ride. Just when we thought it was going one way, then it went another way. The speeches were passionate and from the heart.”