Monday, February 28, 2005

Academy Awards Viewership Down By 2 Million

The headline yesterday morning was that the Oscars had the best viewership numbers in 5 years. But that was not the story once the "RED STATE" market numbers were added in.

A total of 41.5 million viewers tuned in Sunday to watch "Million Dollar Baby" take the Oscar for best picture. That's down 2 million from last year's show, which honored "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," according to Nielsen Media Research.

The drop in total viewership was an indication that this year's Oscar ceremony was more popular in the big cities than rural areas, more so than an average Academy Awards, said Larry Hyams, vice president of audience analysis and research for ABC.



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