Monday, February 23, 2009

Oscar ratings up from last year - thanks to a Slumdog?

Dark Knight who?

Or is that your Final Answer?

The 81st Annual Academy Awards were up in household overnight ratings, total viewers, and 18-49 demo from last year. The increases come despite the lack of a big name in the Best Picture category, which Slumdog Millionaire won - as well as seven other Academy Awards.

The movie of course, revolves around a plot featuring the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, a real-life game show import from Britain which took off here in the States a decade ago, making host Regis Phillbin a household name and made the phrase Is that your Final Answer? into pop-culture lore.

Millionaire faded from ABC's prime-time lineup in 2002 (after the network ran it as many as four nights per week), but has since resurrected itself as a successful first-run syndicated strip hosted by Meredith Vierra.

Here's how the Oscars fared Sunday night:

- The Oscars drew 36.3 million viewers for ABC, up from 32 million last year.

- Here is a listing of the Oscar household ratings in the ten largest markets, courtesy of Mediaweek and Douglas of PIFeedback.com. (you'll find ratings for the Barbara Walters special, Jimmy Kimmel, and even NASCAR.) In Chicago, the Oscars earned a 31.6 household rating, up from last year's 28.5. Chicago's rating was second only to New York (34.0/51).

- The Oscars recorded across-the-board increases in most demos, including 18-49 (+13%) and men 18-34 (+22%).

2 comments:

All the RIGHT thoughts said...

Whats your beef with NASCAR? Just the fact that it is the most popular spectator sport in the country? Oh thats right, it's a southern sport where the fans are redneck slave owners. Get over it. also unrelated to this is the fact that you call the HuffPost as the "New School" of Journalists? Maybe in Commie Russia but not here Pal...

T Dog said...

Don't mean to sound harsh, but...

I didn't say anything bad about NASCAR in this post. Can't you read? I've said more negative things about the Cubs and Bears QB Rex Grossman than I've ever said about auto racing. And NASCAR actually did well Sunday night, if you even bothered to click the link and look at the ratings Douglas provided.

Look at "a reminder before posting" in the stickies section to the right, assuming you can read. Disagree with me fine, but at least keep your comment related to the post, and watch your tone - rhetoric like that won't be tolerated around here. This was a story on on Oscar ratings and "Millionaire", not NASCAR. A tirade for or against The Oscars or "Millionaire" would've been good enough. And if what I have to say on this blog bothers you, then don't bother reading or posting here.

And yes, I do find watching NASCAR quite entertaining, thank you very much - more so than watching the Cubs.