Oscar fatigue: pandemic hastens ratings slide for Golden Globes – will Academy Awards show suffer the same fate?

Before the Covid-19 pandemic began, the Oscars show had its smallest audience ever, and the fall in viewership of awards ceremonies has continued since then

The rise of streaming services that let people watch films at home did much of the damage long before the health emergency shut cinemas

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Host Jimmy Kimmel speaks onstage during the 2018 Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, the US. The coronavirus pandemic is taking its toll on lovers of the Oscars as viewers lose interest and ratings continue to slide. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 10:15pm, 12 Apr 2021Updated: 12:11am, 13 Apr 2021

George Bradley used to love watching the Academy Awards. The 28-year-old Briton now living in San Diego, California, would stay up late back home just to tune in. Though he’s now in the right time zone, he’s just not interested, and that is due primarily to the pandemic.

“The rising dominance of the streaming services has taken the gloss off the Oscars for me,” he said. “You just don’t get the same warm fuzzy feeling from when you recognise a movie from the silver screen.”

Whether you watch out of love, because you love to hate, or have given up like Bradley, awards shows have suffered since the coronavirus closed cinemas and shut down live performances. But the ratings slide for awards nights began well before Covid-19 took over.

For much of this century, the Oscars drew 35 million to 45 million viewers, often just behind the Super Bowl. Last year, just before the pandemic was declared, the hostless telecast on ABC was seen by its smallest audience ever, 23.6 million viewers, down 20 per cent from the year before.

Photographers cover the red carpet arrivals for the 85th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, California. Photo: Getty Images

The pandemic-era Golden Globes a little more than a year later plummeted to 6.9 million viewers, down 64 per cent from last year and barely besting 2008, the year a writer’s strike forced NBC to air a news conference announcing winners. Last year, pre-lockdown, the show had 18.4 million viewers, according to the Nielsen company.