Oscar ratings drop 14 percent from last year, hitting a seven year low

After a pretty successful show last year, the Academy Awards dropped in the ratings last night and hit a seven year low.

According to Deadline, the 87th Annual Academy awards were watched by 34.6 million people between 8:30 and 11pm, down 14% from 40.2 million people last year during the same period of time. This is the lowest number of viewers since the 2003 Oscars, which received 32 million.

The Oscar telecast scored a 25.0 household rating compared to 27.9 last year, according to Variety. This is the show's lowest since 24.5 in 2011.

Last year's Oscars, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, earned the highest rating in 10 years, averaging 43.74 million viewers. Meanwhile this year, the show lost a substantial number of viewers in key markets, down 13% in New York and 10% in Chicago.

In Adults 18-49, the awards scored a 14.2, down just a bit from last year's 14.4. These numbers are expected to be adjusted when the more detailed viewer estimates are released later today.

So why did these Oscars receive less fanfare than previous years? Part of it could be the lack of big movies nominated for best picture. Of the eight movies nominated, only American Sniper was really a hit at the box office, grossing $319 million domestically.

Compare this to last year when Gravity, The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle, Captain Phillips and 12 Years a Slave all did pretty well at the box office and were released in most major theaters. Last year, it was a pretty safe bet that an average viewer saw at least a few of the movies nominated for best picture.

This year, movies like Boyhood and Birdman had a more limited release and were not as widely viewed as these other huge box office hits. While last year's best picture winner, 12 Years a Slave, was made available in 1,474 theaters, Birdman's widest release was 976 theaters.

Could it also just be that audiences are becoming less interested in award shows? The Golden Globe Awards, the American Music Awards, the Country Music Awards and the Grammy Awards were all down in the ratings this year, with the Grammys receiving these lowest viewers in six years, according to Variety.

Should we blame these ratings on the fact that the movies this year were a bit more obscure, or are awards shows just becoming less and less relevant?

image via INFphoto.com