ABC took top ratings honors Sunday, riding the Oscars to a 5.8 score in viewers 18-49 across prime, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 21 share. But the Oscars were well down from 2017’s numbers.
ABC’s telecast of the 89th annual Academy Awards in 2017 averaged a 9.1 rating among viewers 18-49, according to Nielsen’s fast national ratings. That was down 13% from 2016’s 10.4. The show brought in an average audience of 32.9 million total viewers last year. Last night's telecast averaged 26.5 million total viewers.
The Oscars Opening Ceremony: Live from the Red Carpet did a 4.0, while the awards themselves, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, did a 6.4.
The Shape of Water won Best Picture. Frances McDormand won best actress for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Gary Oldman won best actor for his work in Darkest Hour. Allison Janney won best supporting actress for her performance in I, Tonya. Sam Rockwell won best supporting actor for Three Billboards.
On the competition, NBC did a 0.6/2, with Dateline rating a 0.6 at 7 p.m., then the film Fast and Furious 7 doing the same rating.
Univision did a 0.6/2.
CBS and Fox did a 0.5/2. On CBS, 60 Minutes rated a 0.8/3 and was followed by an NCIS repeat, then repeats of Bull and NCIS: Los Angeles.
On Fox, it was the special Billy Graham: An Extraordinary Journey, which did a 0.5 from 7 to 8 p.m. Repeated comedies followed on Fox.
Telemundo rated a 0.3/1.
