Two years ago the Academy Awards (now The Oscars) created a bit of hub bub by expanding the number of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10 in hopes of reviving the show's declining TV viewership. The 2010 viewership did bounce back to a five year high of 41.699 million, but anyone that attributes that to the 5 extra best picture nominees is kidding themselves. The increased viewership was all about Avatar (even though it didn't win Best Picture).The 2011 viewership fell back down to near all time lows even with 10 best picture nominees.
Now, the Academy has fiddled with the nominating rules yet again, by allowing a maximum of 10 nominees, but only if vote getters past the top 5 get a minimum of 5% of the votes of the top vote getter. In recent years that formula would have yielded 5,6,7,8 and 9 nominees in various years. So there could be anywhere between 5 and 10 nominees next year.
Don't expect whatever happens to make any difference to the TV ratings.
Since two of the relatively recent Academy Awards viewership peaks were the two times James Cameron had "the highest grossing motion picture in history" in the running (Titanic, 1998; Avatar, 2010), perhaps the Academy should simply fund and nominate a James Cameron movie each year?
Note: The table below has been updated with the 2011 numbers, but the chart has not.
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Academy Awards TV Ratings Data, 1953-2011:
| Year | Net | HH rating | HH Share | Homes (million) | Viewers (million) | Best Picture | $/ 30 sec. ad | |
| 2011* | ABC | 21.2 | 33.0 | 24.627 | 37.919 | The King's Speech | ||
| 2010* | ABC | 23.3 | 37.0 | 26.794 | 41.699 | The Hurt Locker | ||
| 2009* | ABC | 20.6 | 31.0 | 23.567 | 36.310 | Slumdog Millionaire | $993,400 | |
| 2008* | ABC | 18.7 | 29.0 | 21.073 | 32.006 | No Country For Old Men | $1,820,000 | |
| 2007* | ABC | 23.6 | 37.0 | 26.317 | 40.172 | The Departed | $1,665,800 | |
| 2006* | ABC | 23.1 | 35.0 | 25.405 | 38.939 | Crash | $1,646,800 | |
| 2005 | ABC | 25.4 | 38.0 | 27.876 | 42.139 | Million Dollar Baby | $1,503,000 | |
| 2004 | ABC | 26.0 | 40.0 | 28.212 | 43.531 | Lord of the Rings: Return of the King | $1,503,100 | |
| 2003 | ABC | 20.4 | 32.0 | 21.769 | 33.043 | Chicago | $1,345,800 | |
| 2002 | ABC | 25.4 | 42.0 | 26.832 | 41.782 | A Beautiful Mind | $1,290,000 | |
| 2001 | ABC | 26.2 | 40.0 | 26.800 | 42.944 | Gladiator | $1,450,000 | |
| 2000 | ABC | 29.2 | 48.0 | 29.437 | 46.333 | American Beauty | $1,305,000 | |
| 1999 | ABC | 28.6 | 46.0 | 28.466 | 45.615 | Shakespeare in Love | $1,000,000 | |
| 1998 | ABC | 34.9 | 55.0 | 34.160 | 55.249 | Titanic | $950,000 | |
| 1997 | ABC | 27.4 | 46.0 | 26.531 | 40.075 | The English Patient | $850,000 | |
| 1996 | ABC | 30.3 | 50.0 | 29.016 | 44.867 | Braveheart | $795,000 | |
| 1995 | ABC | 32.5 | 53.0 | 31.005 | 48.279 | Forrest Gump | $700,000 | |
| 1994 | ABC | 31.1 | 49.0 | 29.296 | 45.083 | Schindler's List | $643,500 | |
| 1993 | ABC | 31.2 | 51.0 | 29.047 | 45.735 | Unforgiven | $607,800 | |
| 1992 | ABC | 29.8 | 50.0 | 27.446 | 44.406 | The Silence ofthe Lambs | ||
| 1991 | ABC | 28.4 | 48.0 | 26.440 | 42.727 | Dances With Wolves | ||
| 1990 | ABC | 27.9 | 48.0 | 25.700 | 40.375 | Driving Ms. Daisy | $450,000 | |
| 1989 | ABC | 29.8 | 50.0 | 26.940 | 42.619 | Rain Main | $375,000 | |
| 1988 | ABC | 29.4 | 49.0 | 26.050 | 42.227 | Last Emperor | $360,000 | |
| 1987 | ABC | 27.5 | 43.0 | 24.040 | 37.190 | Platoon | $335,000 | |
| 1986 | ABC | 27.3 | 43.0 | 23.450 | 37.757 | Out of Africa | $320,000 | |
| 1985 | ABC | 27.7 | 45.0 | 23.520 | 38.855 | Amadeus | $315,000 | |
| 1984 | ABC | 30.3 | 50.0 | 25.390 | 42.051 | Terms of Endearment | $275,000 | |
| 1983 | ABC | 38.0 | 59.0 | 31.654 | 53.235 | Gandhi | $245,000 | |
| 1982 | ABC | 33.6 | 53.0 | 27.384 | 46.245 | Chariots of Fire | ||
| 1981 | ABC | 31.0 | 58.0 | 24.120 | 39.919 | Ordinary People | ||
| 1980 | ABC | 33.7 | 55.0 | 25.713 | 48.978 | Kramer vs. Kramer | ||
| 1979 | ABC | 34.6 | 63.0 | 25.770 | 46.301 | Deer Hunter | ||
| 1978 | ABC | 36.3 | 68.0 | 26.460 | 48.501 | Annie Hall | ||
| 1977 | ABC | 31.1 | 63.0 | 22.140 | 39.719 | Rocky | ||
| 1976 | ABC | 35.5 | 64.0 | 24.710 | 46.751 | One... Coockoo's Nest | ||
| 1975 | NBC | 35.0 | 62.0 | 23.980 | 48.127 | GodfatherPart II | ||
| 1974 | NBC | 36.7 | 68.0 | 24.300 | 44.712 | The Sting | ||
| 1973 | NBC | 37.8 | 68.0 | 24.490 | The Godfather | |||
| 1972 | NBC | 38.7 | 70.0 | 24.030 | The French Connection | |||
| 1971 | NBC | 38.2 | 70.0 | 22.960 | Patton | |||
| 1970 | ABC | 43.4 | 78.0 | 25.390 | Midnight Cowboy | |||
| 1969 | ABC | 31.8 | 56.0 | 18.130 | Oliver! | |||
| 1968 | ABC | 34.4 | 67.3 | 19.260 | In the Heat of the Night | |||
| 1967 | ABC | 41.2 | 74.9 | 22.620 | A Man for All Seasons | |||
| 1966 | ABC | The Sound of Music | ||||||
| 1965 | ABC | 37.4 | 69.3 | 19.670 | My Fair Lady | |||
| 1964 | ABC | 37.0 | 71.3 | 18.980 | Tom Jones | |||
| 1963 | ABC | 37.2 | 71.0 | 18.526 | Lawrence of Arabia | |||
| 1962 | ABC | 37.1 | 75.4 | 18.179 | West Side Story | |||
| 1961 | ABC | The Apartment | ||||||
| 1960 | NBC | 45.8 | 82.4 | 20.430 | Ben-Hur | |||
| 1959 | NBC | 46.7 | 82.0 | 20.284 | Gigi | |||
| 1958 | NBC | 46.3 | 78.2 | 19.210 | The Bridge on The River Kwai | |||
| 1957 | NBC | 37.3 | 69.2 | 14.187 | Around The World In 80 Days | |||
| 1956 | NBC | 48.0 | 70.0 | 16.251 | Marty | |||
| 1955 | NBC | 45.0 | 57.0 | 18.785 | On the Waterfront | |||
| 1954 | NBC | 55.0 | 82.0 | 14.953 | From Here To Eternity | |||
| 1953 | NBC | 49.7 | 82.0 | 10.912 | The Greatest Show On Earth |
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*2006-2011 results are Live+SD, all previous years are Live viewing.
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2011 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
