Oscar Ratings dropped Dramatically because of Neil Patrick Harris?

The Oscars hosted by Neil Patrick Harris have the lowest rating since 2009 and failed to surpass the 43.7 million rating of 2014 while Ellen DeGeneres hosted the award ceremony.

The Oscars ratings dropped by a staggering 16% since last year with only 36.6 million average viewers. Last year the Oscars had a rating of 43.7 million partly due to the hosting of the ceremony by Ellen DeGeneres.

The network ABC, which is responsible for broadcasting the biggest award show Oscars until 2023, expected Neil Patrick Harris to work the same magic as DeGeneres as she drew the biggest audience ratings since the year 2000, however the plan apparently did not work.

The Oscars usually attract the biggest non-sports audience in the US but it had the lowest ratings since 2009. Neil Patrick Harris the star of the famous series How I Met Your Mother has a large fan following among the younger members of the viewers and appointing him the host was a means of reaching out to the younger audiences. 

According to the critics the failure in achieving ample ratings was due to a tediously long broadcast time and the lack of more mainstream or box office topping films. The broadcast was approximately about 40 minutes longer than the previous time of 3 and a half hour.

The critics even pointed the bland jokes and absence of an exciting moment that could have been popular on mainstream social media. Harris tried his best to draw attention on the social media but could not come up with a moment good enough to rival the Oscar selfie taken by Ellen DeGeneres last year at the Oscars. 

The majority of the awards were given to Indie films and only a few A-listers from Hollywood were even a part of the nominees unlike 2014. Moreover fan favorites such as ‘Boyhood’ only received one award and the lack of more prizes was heavily criticized by fans on the social media. The Oscars were even criticized for failing to recognize the justified honor of the film ‘Selma’ as it only received one award for original score. 

See the complete list of Oscars 2015 winners.

On the other hand the CBS Grammy’s only drew 24.8 million viewers, lowest since 2009 and the NBC’S Golden Globes only had a 19.3 million rating in 2015 its smallest audience in 3 years. Either the shows were simply bland and not riveting enough to attract the viewers or the award shows have lost their appeal in the current era.

just heard last nights Oscar’s had it’s lowest ratings in 6 years. Can I say way to go #TWDFamily we blow them out of the water lol— Tammy Goddard (@tammycyw) February 24, 2015

Oscar ratings tumble by more than 7 million viewers from last year–a 6 year low! Looks like #OscarsSoWhite succeeded on a number of levels!— Nicole Moore (@thehotnessgrrrl) February 24, 2015

Oscar ratings were down 10% to a four year low. Four straight weeks of Sunday night must see tv is too much. Super Bowl/Grammy/SNL/Oscar— Enty Lawyer (@entylawyer) February 23, 2015

Sources: TheWrap, USAToday, TVbytheNumbers, ABC