Oscars to go hostless for second year, ABC and Academy of Motion Pictures confirm after 2018 saw viewership rise
- ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke confirms decision made with Academy of Motion Pictures
- 2019 ceremony was first in 30 years to have no host, and broke four-year trend of falling viewership
The 2020 Oscars ceremony in February will again have no host, the head of ABC Television Entertainment said on Wednesday.
“Let me confirm it now. Together with the Academy [of Motion Pictures], we have decided there will be no traditional host again this year,” Karey Burke, president of ABC Entertainment, told television reporters.
The 2019 Oscars was the first in 30 years to have no host and saw the audience on broadcaster ABC rise to 29.6 million Americans, breaking a four-year trend of falling viewership for the live ceremony.
Burke said the decision not to have a host for the February 9 awards, the most prestigious event in the movie business, was prompted by last year’s success, when rock band Queen opened the show with a live performance to celebrate the box office success of the musical Bohemian Rhapsody.
Burke said organisers planned on “repeating what worked for us last year – huge entertainment value, big musical numbers, big comedy”.