Like every previous Oscars ceremony, the 98th Academy Awards, hosted by Conan O’Brien, turned out to be a star-studded affair. Despite the absence of several big names, including Sean Penn (who won Best Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another), Brad Pitt, Tom Holland, and Hailee Steinfeld, the ceremony still drew millions of viewers.
Three #Oscars winners walk into a photo booth… Backstage celebrations with Jessie Buckley, Michael B. Jordan, and Amy Madigan 📸 pic.twitter.com/mDpeATjbtt
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 16, 2026
As reported by Variety, the Oscars 2026 drew 17.86 million viewers across ABC and Hulu, marking a 9% drop from the 2025 ceremony, which attracted 19.7 million viewers. This also makes it the least-watched Oscars telecast since 2022.
In terms of ratings, the 2026 Oscars scored a 3.92 rating in the key 18-49 bracket, reflecting a decline of around 16% from last year’s 4.54 rating. That said, according to Disney, the 98th Academy Awards still ranks as the No. 1 primetime entertainment telecast of the 2025-2026 season. This brings us to an interesting question: how do the 2026 Oscars viewership numbers compare with the last ten years’ Academy Awards? Keep reading to find out.
Last 10 Years’ Oscars Viewership (2017-2026)
Let’s take a closer look at the Academy Awards viewership over the past decade (2017–2026) to find out where the 2026 ceremony stands in comparison.
- 2026: 17.86 million
- 2025: 19.7 million
- 2024: 19.5 million
- 2023: 18.8 million
- 2022: 16.6 million
- 2021: 10.4 million
- 2020: 23.6 million
- 2019: 29.6 million
- 2018: 26.5 million
- 2017: 32.9 million
A quick look at the above numbers indicates a clear long-term decline in Oscars viewership, especially when compared to the late 2010s. In 2017, the ceremony drew a massive 32.9 million viewers, and it remained strong over the next couple of years, with 2018 and 2019 also delivering impressive figures. Interestingly, the decline had already started showing by 2020, even before the pandemic arrived.
The biggest drop came in 2021, when viewership fell sharply to 10.4 million due to COVID-19 disruptions. Since then, the Oscars have managed to bounce back to some extent, and the numbers have stabilized between 18 and 20 million from 2023 to 2025. That’s why the 2026 figure of 17.86 million seems slightly concerning because it has broken the momentum. Let’s hope viewership numbers return to pre-pandemic levels starting with the 2027 Oscars.
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