A household name but with no one watching, are the Academy Awards… over? In 1998, the Oscars drew 55 million viewers to their self-professed glamorous ceremony. In 2010, numbers hovered above 40 million. Each year since, they have plummeted: 23.6 million in 2020 to 9.8 million in 2021. So why does no one watch the Oscars anymore? Editor’s Note: In 2022 the broadcast did see a jump to 15 million viewers, but we’re chalking that up to the unbelievable Will Smith-Chris Rock slap rather than a sudden spark in admiration for the Academy. It’s still the second-lowest audience ever, following the all-time low in 2021.
In a recent hit piece, the Cut described a current vibe shift, in that “sometimes things change, and a once-dominant social wavelength starts to feel dated.” Caught in this swing, the Oscars hang between their once high-brow status and kitsch tele, skimming our radar.
‘The vibe’ isn’t exactly a mysterious dust-shaking force itself, but a reflection of popular intent. Audiences are conscious in their arts and culture choices, and the film industry has given us new ways to watch and talk about film – it’s these tangible shifts that are pushing the Academy Awards to the brink of death.
The pivotal, digital protest
In 2015, #OscarsSoWhite protested the Academy’s diversity problem when no actors of colour were nominated in the top four acting categories. Scrutiny amplified with the film industry at the centre of #MeToo in 2017. And not without reason: in the 2010s, 89% of nominations went to white people, and over 70% to men. Also in 2017 a third, less popular, hashtag (coined on LinkedIn of all places) pointed to another reason for thinning views: #OscarsSoOld.
Like the other hashtags, it confronted deep-rooted flaws; generational shifts have always plagued the Academy. While reiterating predominantly white, elderly, male voting members can’t represent the film industry or its audience, #OscarsSoOld also criticised them for not evolving with viewing preferences.
Younger viewers won’t jump to suboptimal experiences like a broadcasted ceremony. As Mellini Kantayya writes in HuffPost: “When highlights are so readily available, why sit idle in front of the television (if you even own one) for three-plus hours to get to the scant juicy bits?”
#OscarsFanFavorite, a fourth hashtag created by the Academy for this year’s awards, looks like an accidental nail in their own coffin with the Twittersphere voting for Amazon’s terrible ‘Cinderella’ and embarrassing the award show’s attempt to ‘get down’ with the people.
Jessica Chastain Says She’ll Skip Oscars Carpet Press If It Conflicts With Makeup Category Presentation https://t.co/uvcyxCVDca
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 17, 2022
Where the Oscars still have impact
These problems don’t exist in a vacuum, with the Grammys, Golden Globes and Emmys also at an all-time low. Four years ago, with ratings not yet abysmal, Tylt queried the merit of award shows by asking, “Do award shows really matter?” A whopping 78% of responders said no.
Still, the critical approval of an Oscars nomination or win brings films commercial success. The Australian box office for ‘Nomadland’, the lowest-grossing Best Picture ever, increased by 180% in the weekend following its win. Other films at the 2021 Awards also saw an uptick.
Even if it’s not able to secure eyeballs to watch its own red carpet, the Oscars still put bums in seats for the films themselves, flexing their lasting hold on public consumption. Ultimately, the public still loves film – including those that win Oscars.
The Academy can no longer gate-keep film
We loved seeing ‘Parasite’ win Best Picture and three other awards. Even those of us who skipped the broadcast still shared pictures of Bong Joon-ho kissing his statuettes on Instagram stories. But Oscars-seal-of-approval didn’t replace the joy of discovering ‘Parasite’ in the first place: the desire to find this genre-defying Korean movie your friend suggested, watch it in bed days later and DM them about that twist.
We’re no longer in the Oscars’ heyday when a TV in the lounge room was the center of all culture. Film discourse has transformed. Now, the Oscars are a side note – like when my cousin asked me at a late-Summer picnic if I had seen “the Williams sisters movie” (‘King Richard’). After mentioning its Oscar nomination, they were quick to clarify: “That’s not what I look for.”
YPulse backs this up, finding young people don’t engage with award shows because they don’t care who wins. Even when they do find out the results (via social media), it’s unlikely the award winners align with their tastes.
Instead, self-curated selections are the more compelling endorsement of what’s ‘good’ and ‘relevant’. Sending your friend a TikTok analysing a movie you streamed together, delivered from your personalised algorithm, hits different to: “So, did you watch the Oscars?”
Rachel Zegler reveals she was not invited to the #Oscars despite starring in Best Picture-nominee ‘West Side Story.’
The film has 7 nominations and its lead was not invited. Shameful. pic.twitter.com/jL5MuaEosH
— Cinema Solace (@solacecinema) March 20, 2022
Attention is elsewhere: Oscars are no longer all-or-nothing
These days, the dominant film culture sits outside the Academy’s silo of Hollywood releases with big marketing budgets.
Netflix and other streaming giants offer old favourites and increasingly critically-acclaimed original productions. Free services like SBS On Demand and Kanopy expand access to independent, classic and foreign titles. Even with this diverse roster of streaming platforms available, audiences are still visiting the cinema at rates consistent with the last few decades, across all age groups.
Film festivals showcasing independent cinema, like the iconic Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) and cause-driven Environmental Film Festival Australia, boosted strong physical attendance numbers with home-watching throughout the pandemic. In its second digital year, 47% of MIFF’s new audiences were under 25, with this age group watching an average of 6.3 films each.
Clearly, the community has appetite for cinema far beyond what the Oscars provide – in both volume and variety.
The Oscars’ shrinking importance is driven by apathy more than a desire to boycott. The vibe has shifted the Oscars with it: now, film culture is driven by self-discovery and sharing insight rather than the marketing frenzy of a Hollywood release. As one Redditor posted on a thread denouncing the Oscars, “I know what I like, and why I like it.”
Some urge the Academy to reinvent themselves. Yes, the Old Boys’ Club could benefit from some market research. But instead of grasping at relevancy, the Oscars could process that their future can’t rely on the vision of awards handed out on a stage reflected back by broadcast metrics.
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