Oscars Viewership Struggles as Award Show Honors ‘Abhorrent’ Movies
By Movieguide® Contributor
Movie fans could stream the Oscars for the first time ever this year, but that didn’t do much for viewership.
Hulu hosted the stream of the 97th Academy Awards, and although viewership numbers did rise a little, it wasn’t as much as expected, adding only around 169,000 viewers. In total, the awards show pulled 19.7 million viewers, up 1% from last year. But that’s a far cry from the more than 40 million the show pulled a little over a decade ago in 2014.
Hulu’s technical issues throughout the night also made watching the Oscars difficult. Deadline reported, “The issues started early on, with reports that some users couldn’t access their accounts when the show began. Others say they were kicked out of the broadcast before the last two categories were announced.”
Along with technical glitches, though, the declining interest in the Oscars comes from their celebration of movies that most viewers aren’t interested in as they glorify depravity.
This year’s “Best Picture” award went to ANORA, which Movieguide® gave a -4.
Some mainstream critics are touring ANORA as an Oscar frontrunner. After a first half filled with nearly nonstop sex and nudity, the movie is somewhat entertaining during the second half. The movie also ends with a powerfully emotional final moment. However, ANORA has hundreds of obscenities and profanities, extreme sexual content, explicit nudity, and drug abuse. Finally, the ending’s strong emotion comes too little too late to stop ANORA from being considered morally abhorrent.
READ MORE: ANORA REVIEW
Hollywood routinely forgoes what audiences really want in favor of movies like ANORA, which ranked at No. 85 at the 2024 box office and only grossed $15,950,760.
Meanwhile, viewers crave wholesome, family-friendly movies like INSIDE OUT 2, which scored the top place at the box office and promoted the theme of the joy of the Lord being our strength.
“…Americans and Canadians reject Hollywood movies with liberal and leftist values, atheist content, and explicit sex and nudity,” explained Movieguide® publisher Dr. Ted Baehr.
Movieguide®’s 32nd Annual Movieguide® Awards show offers a stark contrast to the Oscars as it celebrates the faith-based family-friendly content audiences desire.
“We want to celebrate those who bring joy and entertainment to the big screen and provide a space where families come together to escape from the world around them,” said Movieguide® CEO Robby Baehr. “We also want to honor the First Responders who risked their lives to save Los Angeles. We must continue to lean on each other and help find the light in the darkness.”
You can watch the Movieguide® Awards on March 6 at 8/7c on Great American Family.
READ MORE: FRUSTRATED WITH THE OSCARS? WATCH THIS INSTEAD
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