Exclusive: Academy CEO Expects Oscars Ratings to Defy Gravity Thanks to Streaming

Just like the crew of the starship Enterprise, the Oscars are about to venture into their own final frontier: streaming television. On March 2, Hollywood’s pre-eminent awards show returns to ABC for its 97th edition—and the first that will be livestreamed on multiple digital platforms, including Hulu, Fubo, and AT&T TV.

It’s an evolution that may seem as inevitable as a certain Infinity Gauntlet-wielding despot, but getting to this point was far from a snap. For years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences kept its namesake ceremony behind the barricades of the streaming revolution, even as the Grammys and the Golden Globes rushed into the fray.

In an exclusive interview with ADWEEK, AMPAS CEO Bill Kramer indicates that the show’s complex web of domestic and international partners—including ABC and Hulu’s parent company, Disney—was one of the reasons why the Oscars’ move to streaming was, until recently, stuck in slow motion.

“As the television industry changes, Disney also evolves,” Kramer diplomatically notes, alluding to the Mouse House’s recent moves in the streaming space, which includes consolidating control over Hulu as well as becoming Fubo’s majority owner. “Disney is now at a point in with their evolution of Hulu, ABC, and the affiliates that it’s something we could accomplish this year.”

And Kramer is expecting to reap ratings rewards by finally flipping the streaming switch. “I think we’re going to reach a new audience this year,” he says, eyes dancing like Glinda and Elphaba while picturing the potential 18-49 demo viewership numbers on Hulu. “We’re very excited about that.”

The metric system

The Oscars are certainly hoping to defy recent awards show ratings gravity. In January, Nielsen Media Research numbers showed that the Golden Globes ticked downward to 9.3 million viewers, a -2% declined versus its 2024 edition. (Due to a contract dispute between CBS and Nielsen, the network initially released viewership data from VideoAmp that claimed a 10.1 million finish.)

And earlier this month, the Grammys dial only went up to 15.4 million viewers, down from 16.9 million the year before.

Kramer’s mission—and he chooses to accept it—is breaking that downward trend and continuing the Oscars’ own upward trajectory. After falling to record lows in 2021, the show has clawed its way out of the post-Covid malaise, rising to 18.8 million in 2023 and 19.5 million during last year’s Barbenheimer extravaganza.

Meeting or exceeding that 2024 number would be a major victory, particularly amidst concerns over whether this year’s crop of Best Picture nominees—save Wicked—are popular Kenough.

“We have to think about the metric for success differently as our viewing habits change,” Kramer says when asked how the show’s streaming numbers will be packaged with linear ratings. To that end, he envisions a metric that starts with a night-of number that includes ABC and Hulu for the first time, followed by the seven-day ratings numbers as well as international and social media engagement.

Kramer notes that the official Academy Instagram account has already seen an influx of engagement from Brazilian movie lovers cheering on Fernanda Torres, Oscar-nominated star of I’m Still Here, which is also in contention for Best International Feature and Best Picture. That’s the kind of “progressive” metric he wants to champion going forward.

“The days of just saying how many people watched a show on linear TV night-of has evolved—and that’s good,” Kramer emphasizes.

Second screen streams

Joining the streaming revolution also allows for an evolution of the Oscar show itself. Kramer reveals that this year’s production will feature “a lot of innovation” that’s made possible by the shift to Hulu. Look for more second-screen experiences and a shorter pre-show among those tweaks.

“The pre-show is now a really tight 30-minute production that plays really well as a lead-in to the main telecast,” Kramer teases. “We’re always working with our partners at Disney and ABC, and now Hulu, to think about how the show plays on streaming, second screens, and social.”

Not for nothing, but this year’s host, Conan O’Brien, is a digital media expert in his own right. After a storied career as an icon for Gen-X and Millennial late night viewers, O’Brien has successfully pivoted to podcasting and YouTube, picking up a whole new audience along the way.

“It’s a great lesson for all of us,” Kramer says of how O’Brien can lead this year’s streaming transition by example. “The film industry is a little over a century old, and there have been technological disruptions throughout that time. That’s taught us to be nimble as an organization, and Conan brings a lot of that expertise to the table.”

There could come a day within the industry’s next century when the Oscars are a streaming-only awards show, particularly if the ratings stay flat or decline. That’s a fork in the road that other ceremonies have already taken, including the SAG Awards—which recently moved from cable television to Netflix—and the Indie Spirit Awards, which moved to YouTube after losing its linear home in 2023.

For now, Kramer says that the Oscars are staying put on both linear and digital platforms as it continues to bring its celebration of cinema to the widest-possible global audience. But he also allows that appetites could change as streaming becomes “a bigger slice of the overall engagement pie.”

“The Oscars is a television show, and we want to reach as many people as we can,” he says. “We feel that this is a show that should be enjoyed around the world. There are more and more ways to do that—and streaming is one big way.”