Oscars 2016: Experts surprised by low ratings amid #OscarsSoWhite controversy

The Rev. Al Sharpton took some credit Monday for the decline in Oscars TV viewership, saying the “tuneout” he and other activists called for and subsequent ratings drop “should send a message” to Hollywood that diversity matters.

Not so fast, media experts say.

The drop in ratings for Sunday night’s Academy Awards show “has nothing to do with #OscarsSoWhite,” said Ray Richmond, a longtime TV critic and a former Daily News critic.

Viewership this year dipped to the lowest level since 2008 and third lowest since 1990, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen. An estimated 34.3 million people watched Sunday night’s telecast, down 8 percent from the 37.3 million who tuned in last year.

“Basically, when you look at ‘The Revenant,’ ‘Spotlight’ and ‘The Big Short,’ these are still largely art-house movies not seen by mass audience,” Richmond said. “If ‘Star Wars’ was up for everything, the ratings would be through the roof.”

Sharpton was among those who called for a tuneout of the hugely popular Academy Awards to protest the second consecutive year of all-white nominees in the four Oscar acting categories.

The Oscars also don’t have the same relevance to younger people that they do with the older crowd, Richmond said.

Mary Murphy, a senior lecturer at USC Aenberg School, expected that the #OscarsSoWhite controversy would gaer this year’s show more attention. But instead people tuned out.

“Did the media overdo this controversy? Everyday in major newspapers around the country, they focused on the controversy and not on the Oscars,” Murphy said.

Even marketers could not do their job, she said, because the controversy overwhelmed the marketing.

Murphy said she thinks that point was underscored when Oscars host Chris Rock showed a clip of moviegoers in Compton being asked which nominated films they had seen and many of the names were unfamiliar to them, she said.

Bob Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, noted that viewership for nearly all shows, except the Super Bowl, has gone down. But he expected this year’s Oscars ratings to be better because of the controversy and because there was no clear wier going in for Best Picture.

While the reason for the decline could have had something to do with the mix of films themselves, the boycott was also a variable “that’s certainly one worth thinking about,” Thompson said.

“I have no other better theories as to why it went down,” he said, noting “it’s impossible to prove.”

Advertisement

Sharpton said the ‘significant decline’ in ratings was heartening to those who campaigned for the tuneout and should send a message to both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and movie studio heads.

“Though clearly we don’t take full credit for the decline, certainly one would have to assume we were effective and part of the decline,” Sharpton said in a statement. “And to those that mocked the idea of a tuneout, it seems the joke was on them.”

But Derek Baine, research director of the media research firm SNL Kagan, noted that a lot of Nielsen ratings have been sinking because they don’t capture mobile and Inteet viewing.

“A lot of people are watching TV on tablets,” he said. “They are supposed to come out with a new rating system shortly.”

The Live+3 Commercial Ratings, which capture three days of viewing, also won’t be released until later in the week. While most people watch the show live, some, like Baine, some prefer to record it and zip through the highlights, he said.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

- - , .