This year's Academy Awards broadcast on ABC had the lowest viewership in the awards show's history. The numbers are in, and the awards show averaged 9.85 million viewers for the Sunday broadcast, according to the live + same-day numbers from Nielsen and relayed by Variety.

　　This is down 58.3%, or 13.75 million viewers, from the 23.6 million viewers for last year's show. The year before that had 29.6 million live and same-day viewers.

　　Oscars viewership through the years

　　2014: 43.7 million

　　2015: 37.3 million

　　2016: 34.4 million

　　2017: 32.9 million

　　2018: 26.5 million

　　2019: 29.6 million

　　2020: 23.6 million

　　2021: 9.8 million

　　— Morning Brew ☕️ (@MorningBrew) April 26, 2021

　　The dramatic downturn in viewers is not surprising to some industry observers. Analyst Matthew Ball explained back in 2018 that no one should be surprised to see the dropping numbers because the show does not innovate or give people a good reason to watch it live as opposed to just following along on Twitter or elsewhere as the winners are announced.

　　Below you can find Ball's thread on the matter, which remains topical even three years later. Be sure to read the full thread to learn more.

　　1/ RE: Oscars' ratings.

　　I tweet this every few months, but that's why it's critical.

　　It is NO surprise ratings drop each year. Trad TV is collapsing. The problem is that the award shows don't innovate. They don't think about what could be better, or new, or is newly possible

　　— Matthew Ball (@ballmatthew) March 6, 2018

　　The 93rd Academy Awards broadcast featured a unique broadcast structure, as it was split between presentations at Union Station and the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles due to the pandemic. The show also went without a host for a second year in a row.

　　Nomadland was a big winner during the show, taking home three awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (for Chloe Zhao), and Best Actress (for Frances McDormand). Zhao became the second woman in Oscars history to win Best Director and the first woman of color to win the award.

　　Netflix was also a big winner, with its movies taking home seven Academy Awards. Tenet also picked up an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, becoming the third Christopher Nolan film to win in that category.