Samantha Wilson
People binge on movies and TV shows, but… Ratings for the Oscars and other award shows have collapsed.
Today there are many different platforms for people to stream movies and TV shows. Some of the most used are Disney, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount, etc. But even platforms that are not intended for streaming services like Amazon Prime have access to movies and TV shows. We have so many ways to access movies and TV shows that it makes it easy for people to watch whatever they want at any time or anywhere. The Oscars are aired on live television but since we have all the different streaming services many people do not have cable anymore. A study estimated that in 2024 69.8% of US households will not have cable and by 2026 80% of US households will not have cable. This is one explanation for why the Oscars and other award shows have collapsed. Another explanation for this is that award shows like the Oscars are outdated. The first Oscar show was 94 years ago. Things have changed since then. The younger audience has different views and impressions of things. Many of them complain that the Oscar is too long and don’t want to watch three hours of people making speeches and talking. They feel like it’s a waste of their time when they can see the content of the award show in just five minutes the next day. Barbie and Oppenheimer were popular movies leading up to the Oscars, but it wasn’t till after the show that many of the young audience saw the video of Ryan Gosling performing “I’m Just Ken” or Cillian Murphy winning Best Actor for his performance in Oppenheimer. Many argue that the Oscars aren’t as diverse as they should be. They argue that many of the awards and winning movies are based more on popularity than on quality. This trend of the award show ratings falling is a bad trend because the rating will likely still decrease over time while more people leave cable and turn to streaming services. The Oscars have also tried to adjust the show to the young viewers like cutting down on time, but they still haven’t succeeded. Their unsuccessfulness will lead to the decline of award shows in general. This isn’t just a bad trend for the shows themselves but it’s bad for the celebrity and movies that are receiving recognition. For them the award shows allow them to self-celebrate, it highlights and shows their accomplishments. I think that if these trends continue then the awards show will eventually become irrelevant to many people and will take away the importance of the accomplishments that they highlight. If these awards shows want to improve their ratings and bring back young audiences, then they need to evolve and capture the attention and appreciation of the next generation that will be watching. One way they can move forward to better trends is by promoting diverse perspectives and awarding work for its quality rather than its popularity among the viewers.