为何奥斯卡的收视率跌至历史低点

星期天的第90届奥斯卡颁奖典礼电视直播持续近4小时，最终投票选出的获奖者几乎没有任何悬念。不过这一晚上最没有悬念的，就是这场好莱坞星光熠熠的颁奖礼延续了多年来收视率走下坡的趋势。

媒体评估服务公司尼尔森的初期数据显示，2018年的奥斯卡收视率可能是有史以来最低的一次。根据尼尔森公布的信息，上周日奥斯卡颁奖典礼直播的家庭隔夜收视率为18.9 %，与去年电视直播的22.4%相比下降16%。（尼尔森的家庭收视率数据测算的是公司计量市场中收看特定节目或事件的家庭。）

去年的奥斯卡颁奖典礼吸引了大约3,290万电视观众，这是自2008年喜剧演员乔恩·斯图尔特主持以来人数最少的一次。2008年的观众人数为3,180万。据报道，尽管昨晚的颁奖典礼收视率可能大幅下滑，观众人数或许低于2,900万，但2008年的奥斯卡颁奖典礼收视率仍是历史最低。

奥斯卡颁奖典礼由美国广播公司负责转播，该公司旗下的深夜脱口秀主持人吉米·基梅尔在过去两年连续主持奥斯卡颁奖典礼。2017年典礼接近尾声时，发生了最佳影片的信封乌龙事件，受到广泛争议。从不受欢迎的主持人，到过于冗长的电视直播，再到入围者的左倾言论，这些都被认为是颁奖礼收视率走低的因素。

2018年奥斯卡收视率继续下滑的其中一个原因在于，今年的最佳影片提名中票房大片数量微乎其微。该项提名中票房收入最高的当属场面激烈的二战电影《敦刻尔克》（Dunkirk，全球5.25亿美元票房），它在主要奖项上成绩不佳，最终获得了奥斯卡最佳电影剪辑、最佳音效剪辑、最佳混音效果三个奖项。主要候选影片中票房收入第二高的是赢得2.55亿美元票房的《逃出绝命镇》（Get Out），该片为导演兼编剧奖编剧乔丹·皮尔赢得了最佳原创剧本奖，成为周日晚上最受热议的奖项之一。

我们几乎可以肯定地说，奥斯卡近年收视率下降的主要因素是电视观众快速改变的观看习惯。越来越多的人选择在网上（包括社交媒体）观看自己最喜欢的内容直播，而不是电视直播。值得一提的是，尼尔森的初期收视数据不包括数字和移动收视率（不过ABC只允许订阅了有线电视和网上电视直播的用户观看昨晚的奥斯卡颁奖典礼直播）。

格莱美的收视率今年下降了24%，超级碗的收视率也创下7年来的新低，拥有一流剧本的网剧收视率仅占10或15年前收视率榜首剧集的一小部分。这已经成为了一个利基市场。正如托尼·索普拉诺所说，形势正在下行。

——马克·哈里斯（@MarkHarrisNYC）2018年3月5日

颁奖典礼和体育赛事等的现场直播的收视率近几年一直在持续下滑，但这并未撼动它们在电视节目上的霸主地位。去年，奥斯卡颁奖礼收视率虽跌至九年来新低，却仍是收视率排名第四的电视节目，仅次于第51届超级碗和国家橄榄球联盟的两场冠军赛。（财富中文网）

更新：尼尔森（Nielsen）的官方数据显示，美国广播公司（ABC）第90届奥斯卡颁奖典礼的电视直播平均只有2,650万观众收看，比去年减少20%，创下奥斯卡颁奖典礼收视率的历史最低。

译者：严匡正 

The telecast for the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday dragged on for almost four hours and, in the end, Oscar voters picked few surprise winners. But, perhaps the least surprising result of the night was the fact that television ratings for Hollywood’s most glamorous evening continued their years-long decline.

Early numbers from media measurement service Nielsen show that the 2018 Oscars ratings may have been some of the lowest ever recorded. Nielsen reported an 18.9 overnight household rating for Sunday’s Oscars broadcast, which marks a rating drop of 16% from the 22.4 rating produced by last year’s telecast. (Nielsen’s household ratings measure the percentage of homes in the company’s metered markets watching a specific program or event.)

Last year’s Oscars telecast ultimately drew about 32.9 million total TV viewers, which was the smallest Academy Awards audience since 2008, hosted by comedian Jon Stewart, attracted 31.8 million viewers. The 2008 Oscars were reportedly the event’s lowest-rated telecast ever, though last night’s show looks like its ratings could come in significantly lower, potentially below 29 million viewers.

Host network ABC’s own late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel hosted the event each of the past two years, including during the much talked-about Best Picture envelope snafu at the end of the 2017 awards. Any number of factors are often blamed for a low-rated award show, from an unpopular host to an unnecessarily long telecast or even nominees’ left-leaning politics.

One reason already being offered for the latest dip in Oscars ratings is the fact that this year’s crop of Best Picture nominees featured few, if any, box-office blockbusters. In fact, the highest box-office gross among the Best Picture nominees belonged to the intense World War II drama Dunkirk ($525 million worldwide), which came up short in the major categories but ultimately went home with three Oscars for film editing and sound editing and mixing. The second highest-grossing movie among the primary nominees was Get Out, with $255 million, which did win director and screenwriter Jordan Peele an historic Oscar for its screenplay in one of Sunday night’s most talked-about moments.

But, a driving factor for the Oscars’ recent ratings decline is almost certainly the rapidly-changing viewing habits of TV audiences, more and more of whom are choosing to stream their favorite content online (including on social media) rather than watching live on TV. Notably, Nielsen’s early ratings do not include digital and mobile viewership (though ABC only allowed viewers with cable subscriptions or live-TV streaming subscriptions to stream last night’s Oscars broadcast).

Ratings for the Grammys dropped 24% this year. The Super Bowl hit a 7-year low. The top scripted network series gets a mere fraction of what the number-one show got 10 or 15 years ago. It's a niche world. And things, as Tony Soprano once said, are trending downward.

— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) March 5, 2018

Ratings for live broadcasts, including award shows and sporting events, have been steadily declining for several years now. However, those broadcasts still routinely rank as the most-watched TV broadcasts each year, with last year’s Oscars ratings making the ceremony the fourth most-watched TV program, behind only Super Bowl LI and the NFL’s two conference championships, even with the program’s ratings then at a nine-year low.

UPDATE: The official tally from Nielsen shows that ABC’s telecast of the 90th Academy Awards averaged just 26.5 million television viewers, a decline of 20% over last year’s show and the ceremony’s worst viewership ever.