2014 OSCARS is TV's Most-Watched Entertainment Telecast Since 2004

By: Caryn Robbins Mar. 03, 2014

ABC's 2014 broadcast of "The Oscars" drew an average audience of 43.0 million Total Viewers and delivered a 12.9 rating among Adults 18-49, based on Nielsen's "Fast National" ratings. The 2014 "Oscars" qualifies as TV's most-watched entertainment telecast since 2004 - since the "Friends" finale on 05/06/04.

Building its overall audience for the 3rd-consecutive year (+6% - 43.0 million vs. 40.4 million), ABC's "The Oscars" marked its most-watched telecast in 10 years - since 2004. In addition, the Ellen DeGeneres-hosted show was up in Adults 18-34 to a 7-year high (+1% - 11.4 rating vs. 11.3 rating), in Teens 12-17 to a 3-year high (+8% - 6.8 rating vs. 6.3 rating) and in Kids 2-11 to an 8-year high (+9% - 3.5 rating vs. 3.2 rating) - since 2007, 2011 and 2006, respectively.

TV's biggest awards show, ABC's "The Oscars" overshadowed other key awards shows this year, outdrawing the 2014 "Golden Globe Awards" by 22.1 million viewers and 98% in Adults 18-49 (20.9 million/6.5 rating in AD18-49) and the 2014 "Grammy Awards" by 14.5 million viewers and 30% in Adults 18-49 (28.5 million/9.9 rating in AD18-49).

ABC's 2014 "Oscars" broadcast reached an estimated 71.7 million unique television viewers across the U.S. - unduplicated Viewers 2+ watching 6-minutes or more during the broadcasts.

Social Activity (Social Guide)
According Social Guide there were 11.2 million tweets with 2.8 million unique users, as overall "Oscar" activity outpaced last year by 75% (11.2 million vs. 6.4 million).
13.9 million people saw Tweets about "The Oscars." Each person in that Twitter TV Audience saw, on average, 75 Tweets about the TV event, with a total of 1.04 billion Twitter TV impressions accrued across the night.
Source: The Nielsen Company (Live + Same Day, Fast National Program Ratings) - 03/02/14. SocialGuide total number of tweets 3/2/14 vs. 2/24/13.

Photo: ABC/Rick Rowell