US Viewers Shun Academy Awards... Netflix Also Suffers Defeat

Record Low US Viewership
Parasite's 4 Awards Fail to Reverse Recent Ratings Decline
'Streaming King' Netflix Also Faces Film Industry Backlash and Poor Results

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Although the movie 'Parasite' won four awards including Best Picture at the Academy Awards, the broadcast ratings of the event hit an all-time low. Netflix is also being mentioned as one of the losers of this ceremony.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

On the 10th (local time), the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing Nielsen, a viewership rating agency, that the ABC broadcast of the Academy Awards had only 23.6 million viewers. AP explained that this is the lowest ever. The previous lowest viewership was 26.5 million in 2018.

Compared to last year's 29.6 million viewers, this is about a 20% decrease. Nielsen explained that over the past several years, Academy Awards viewership ranged between 35 million and 45 million.

AP reported that although the Academy Awards organizers moved the ceremony schedule up by several weeks compared to previous years, they failed to prevent the decline in viewers.

CNN pointed out that the long duration of the ceremony makes it difficult to keep viewers' attention, and the absence of blockbuster movies like 'Avengers: Endgame' at the ceremony is a reason for the poor ratings. CNN also explained that other award shows such as the Grammys and the Emmys have recently faced similar difficulties.

Netflix, the dominant online streaming service, is also considered to have tasted failure at this ceremony. U.S. media are highlighting Netflix's poor performance behind the rapid rise of Parasite.

A scene from the movie The Irishman.
Photo by AP Yonhap News

Last year, Netflix won Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film with the Mexican movie 'Roma,' and this year, the works it invested in and distributed were nominated in 24 categories, gaining momentum.

However, the Netflix-invested film 'The Irishman,' which was nominated for Best Picture and other categories, ended up empty-handed, winning only two awards: Best Feature Documentary (American Factory) and Best Supporting Actress (Marriage Story).

The online media Vox evaluated, "The winner of this year's Oscars is Parasite, and the loser is Netflix."

Netflix's poor performance is also interpreted as reflecting the Academy members' perception that streaming services disrupt the traditional theater-centered film industry.

The New York Times (NYT) commented, "The Academy Awards made new history with Parasite, but rejected Netflix's entry into the Best Picture club."

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