And the ratings winner is... the 2023 Oscars, the most watched of any awards show in three years

This year's Oscars got a helping hand with some big movies and big names, leading to its best ratings since Hollywood all but eulogized movie theaters and the film industry in general.

The 95th Academy Awards drew an average audience of 18.7 million viewers, not only its best showing since the pre-pandemic 2020 awards, but also the most watched awards show on any network in three years.

Jimmy Kimmel hosts the 2023 Oscars
Jimmy Kimmel hosts the 2023 Oscars

ABC Jimmy Kimmel hosts the 2023 Oscars

This year's Oscars beat last year's by two million viewers, even without the help of a headline-grabbing controversy. Still, the bar was pretty low: 2022's broadcast was the second lowest in Oscar history, behind only the 2021 show with a dismal 9.8 million viewers.

But awards show ratings, as well as just TV ratings across the board, have been pretty dismal since, well, the internet. For instance, this year's Grammys drummed up 12.5 million viewers while the poor Emmys dragged in only 5 million viewers. Meanwhile, the finale of HBO's The Last of Us was also no match for the Oscars, despite a strong 8.2 million viewers.

In comparison, the most-watched Oscars of all time, 1998's broadcast which crowned Titanic Best Picture, drew 57 million viewers, back when James Cameron actually bothered to show up and streaming didn't exist.

Perhaps a more meaningful rubric, then, is social media interaction, with the Oscars scoring 27.4 million reactions across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

So what contributed to the Oscars doing slightly better this year? Well, mega-blockbuster Best Picture nominees like Top Gun: Maverick and Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water, didn't hurt. Nor did performances by Rihanna and Lady Gaga, and maybe there was some general curiosity over how last year's infamous slap would impact or be referenced in this year's ceremony.

Then there was also the historic nature of the 2023 Oscars, with Michelle Yeoh becoming the first Asian Best Actress winner in the Academy's 95-year history, or Indian smash RRR winning Best Original Song for global banger "Naatu Naatu."

Whatever it was, everyone, both in the audience and at home, just seemed happy to get through it without incident. Perhaps no one more so than Jenny the Donkey who thankfully escaped the clutches of that unhinged Cocaine Bear.

'Twas a... strange Oscars.

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