At least we know how deep the Oscars can go. 10.4 million viewers. Less 16.8 percent than on day one of the NFL draft. 61.3 percent lower than Joe Biden’s first speech to Congress, 75 percent lower than Donald Trump’s.
That is really low. It represents 3.1 percent of the current United States population, a four-fifths decrease from 15 percent in 2001, which was not even a record year. (That would be 1998 when the Titanic received the highest award.)
Is it rock bottom? Probably. You could scrape together 10.4 million viewers from Oscar publicists, extended families, and people who forgot to turn off the TV when they decided to play parcheesi or quit ironing.
A week after the gloomy Academy Awards, the question arises: what now?
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Apparently the directors of the Academy of Arts and Sciences for feature films are still collecting their thoughts. The Board of Governors is not expected to meet this week, so corrective action will have to wait. A spokesman for the academy did not comment on the audience breakdown or possible political reactions.
One school of thought holds that the Oscars were simply caught in the same pandemic-triggered tidal wave that rocked all of the awards ceremonies – Emmys, Grammys, Globes, SAG Awards – one after the other. But flagship officers cannot comfort themselves knowing the rest of the fleet is going down. Somebody has to do something.
The truth is, the Oscars could stay afloat at the 10 or 15 million viewer mark for quite a while if ABC and its parent company Walt Disney Co. continued to honor a contract that would involve payments of more than $ 100 million guaranteed for television rights until 2028. According to the agreement, the second half of this year’s payment is due 60 days after it aired on April 25th. That’s six days before the end of the Academy’s fiscal year on June 30th. As such, the financial data could look pretty normal (barring any unusual costs related to the broadcast and Union Station venue) when it is eventually released.
Investors seem to think these payments are safe. In the post-Oscar trade, the prices for the various bonds from the Academy, which were used to finance the Film Museum, fell only slightly.
But it’s about something bigger than the film academy and its finances. The films need a mass audience, even if the Oscars don’t, at least until 2028. A temporary surge in digital sales for Nomadland or The Father is not enough. Film needs excitement and something better than a show that, as Bill Maher just said, “dared to be entertained”.
Maher threw away some thoughts on his last show that would be a lot more fun than what we just saw (or didn’t see). “Call me,” said Maher.
If I ran the academy, that’s exactly what I would do – and ask him to host the next show. Better than going down with the ship.