Viewership for the 98th Academy Awards on ABC and Hulu dropped 9% to 17.9 million viewers in the first major decline since 2021, according to Nielsen data.

Yet numbers hit a four-year-low in the US, where the show reached 17.9 million viewers on ABC and Hulu, down about 9% from last year’s 19.7 million.

ABC said social impressions for the Oscars increased 42% this year over 2025 to more than 184 million.