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Home , 87th Academy Awards

Oscars Down 17 Percent As Critics Knock 'Lame' Telecast

02.23.2015

Like most of this season's awards shows, the 87th took a sharp turn downwards from last year, with Oscar shedding nearly 7 million viewers from 2014's total, accordingly to Nielsen's Fast National ratings released Monday.

Nielsen estimates that the live telecast averaged 36.6 million viewers, with final ratings down 17 percent among adults 18-49 for a 10.8 rating.

Earlier metered market ratings on Monday were also down, with the telecast down 10 percent in the nearly 60 largest media markets in America. That drop brought an average 25 rating among metered market households, for a 38 share.

The Academy woke up to further bad news Monday from the nation's television critics, with most reviewers roundly panning the show's writing with words like "clunky," "flat," and "bland."

"While it's no surprise that the buoyancy of ' Oscar opening couldn't last, seldom has an Academy Awards presentation broken down so transparently over one significant shortcoming - namely, the writing," wrote Variety's Brian Lowry in his review of the show.

Overall NPH came in for muted praise at best, while opinion Monday was decidedly mixed on the parade of winners adding a heavy dose of cause marketing to their acceptance speeches.

Social media provided some good news for ABC and The Academy, with Facebook reporting that 21 million Facebook users created or shared 58 million Oscars-related posts on the site on Sunday.

Lady Gaga scored the most-talked about moment of the night on Facebook, thanks to her medley of songs from The Sound of Music and ' appearance on stage.

The Imitation Game snagging the Best Adapted Screenplay win came in second, while Birdman winning Best Original Screenplay was third.

Lady Gaga also was the top celeb name-checked across all social media platforms during the broadcast, with 577,143 mentions according to Amobee Intelligence. was second with 168,930, and Julie Andrews came in third with 149,742.

Both Netflix and used the telecast to promote their original series, with a new trailer for season three of Netflix's House of Cards, and the premiere of Amazon's Bosch appearing during commercial breaks.

Read More: Variety, Ad Week, , The Reporter,

Brief Take: After two years in a row of Nielsen lifts, Oscar took a ratings stumble this year. But strong social media engagement, and two streaming services' use of the telecast to hype big original series show that The Academy Awards still pack a big punch for brands and consumers.