It was an Oscars ceremony like no other.
Two years after the pandemic wreaked havoc on the annual award show, Sunday night saw the triumphant return of a live audience, hosts (three of them!), and the Dolby Theater.
Ratings nudged higher in a surprise reversal from previous years with early figures showing a 32% jump in total viewers and a 37% bounce in adults aged 18-49.
According to preliminary national numbers from Nielsen, 2022's Academy Awards saw 15.36 million viewers (early, unadjusted figures clocked in at 13.73 million) — a sizable increase versus last year's all-time low of 10.4 million, although still the second-worst on record.
To compare, 2020's show saw 23.6 million viewers tune in, a 20% drop from 2019 levels, and about 3 million less than 2018's previous low.
Despite the uptick, Academy Award viewership — as well as those of other major award broadcasts — has been on a serious decline in recent years as interest from the broader public wanes.
To combat the slump, this year's ceremony opted to eliminate eight award categories from the live telecast, including original score, film editing, production design, sound, makeup and hairstyling, and the three short film awards for documentary, live-action and animated short. Clips from the acceptance speeches were then edited into the official broadcast.
The new plan created an uproar throughout Hollywood with many A-listers, including Oscar-winning directors Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro, denouncing the decision.
"It just shows you how difficult it is to hit the 'perfect note,' in terms of how you present it... and it's evolving. This is not your great grandparents' Oscar show, and the movies that are represented are not the same as they were," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, recently told Yahoo Finance.
Streaming breakouts, theatrical exclusives and hybrid releases
This year's nominees saw a mix of streaming breakouts, theatrical exclusives and hybrid releases with Apple TV+'s "Coda" (AAPL) snagging the top prize of the night.
The film won all three categories it was nominated for including, best picture, best supporting actor and best adapted screenplay.
“There's now a greater acceptance of those films that come from streamers…”Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore Senior Media Analyst
"Coda" was Apple TV+'s first best picture nomination and win — and the first streaming film to take home the top honor, beating out rival Netflix's "The Power of The Dog" (NFLX).
Apple, which spends about $7 billion on content annually, paid $25 million for the distribution rights to the film, a sign that top content often costs top dollar.
"If Apple was to win the coveted best picture award with CODA it would catalyze more A+ talent coming to Apple first (or in the top bracket) and could propel Cupertino's content efforts by multiples over the coming years with a major paid subscriber boost," Dan Ives, tech analyst at Wedbush, said prior to the Oscars.
Ives estimates Apple has roughly 25 million paid subscribers on its Apple TV+ platform and 50 million accounts globally. But the big Oscars wins may push Apple to spend more on original content in a bid to wrestle away market share from the likes of Netflix and Amazon (AMZN).
Netflix has sunk more than $17 billion into its content, and has campaigned for Oscars the past few seasons.
Despite being the most nominated studio, the streamer walked away with just one win — a best director nod for "The Power of The Dog's" Jane Campion.
"The pandemic changed so many things, including what movies could qualify for an Oscar and the parameters and protocols surrounding that. Hollywood is still operating in that environment and there's now a greater acceptance of those films that come from streamers," Dergarabedian said, noting it wasn't that long ago that Hollywood stars lobbied to block streaming exclusives from receiving nominations without a theatrical-only run first.
Still, traditional studio Warner Bros. (T) managed to take home the most awards of the night with "Dune" dominating the technical categories with six wins, while "King Richard," a hybrid release on HBO Max, scored one.
Will Smith won best actor for his portrayal of Richard Williams in the film, but his win was clouded with controversy after he slapped Chris Rock onstage following the comedian's joke about wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Smith apologized to the Academy (but not to Rock) during his acceptance speech.
"I want to apologize to the Academy; I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees," he said. "This is a beautiful moment and I'm not crying for winning an award. ... Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things."
In a statement released after the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wrote on Twitter (TWTR) that it "does not condone violence of any form."
Rock isn't pressing charges, according to Los Angeles police.
The Academy does not condone violence of any form.
Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022
Other big winners included Disney (DIS), which nabbed six wins with "West Side Story," "Encanto," and Searchlight Pictures' "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" leading the way. Questlove’s "Summer of Soul" and “Cruella” also saw wins for documentary feature and costume design, respectively.
MGM's "No Time to Die" won best original song while Focus Features’ "Belfast" took home best original screenplay.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect the latest Oscars' ratings from Nielsen
Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Food Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193
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