oscars 2019

Ratings Prove the Oscars Should Let Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga Sing Every Year

For the first time in five years, the annual gala’s viewership rose—and by double digits, at that. One might say it’s far from the shallow now.

By Laura Bradley

February 25, 2019

If Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper staring into each other’s soul while singing a blockbuster ballad can’t resuscitate the Oscar ratings, it’s safe to assume that nothing can. But luckily for the Academy, Sunday night was indeed well watched. In fact, for the first time in five years, the annual gala’s ratings actually rose—even beating last year’s all-time-low numbers by 11.5 percent, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

We should probably note that Gaga and Coop’s sultry musical stylings were not the only draw on Sunday night. After a chaotic season of hosting controversies, questionable ideas, and last-minute reversals, it’s only natural that perhaps more people than usual would want to tune in and see how the night turned out. Plus, with blockbusters like Black Panther as well as more niche favorites like, well, The Favourite up for best picture, there really was something for just about everyone this year.

Still: ratings rose not only in terms of total viewership—which climbed from last year’s 26.54 million to 29.6 million—but more importantly, by 13 percent in the key 18-49 demo. Given that, we’d recommend bringing Gaga and Cooper back to the stage next year. You know, just in case.

As with any TV-ratings victory these days, it’s important to remember that everything is relative. Though this year reversed a long downward trend, the ceremony’s boosted numbers still made it the second-lowest-rated Oscars on record. But that likely has more to do with audience fragmentation than anything else; TV ratings have generally been trending downward across the board, and as T.H.R. notes, Sunday’s ceremony was the most-watched entertainment telecast since 2017’s Oscars. So in these days of languishing ratings, the Oscars aren’t suffering much worse than anything else—at least not this year.

But all of this might be ignoring the most important factor in Sunday night’s success: the ceremony itself was actually fun to watch. Although the idea of a hostless Oscars was once a terrifying proposition, Sunday’s proceedings proved that under the right circumstances, the Oscars can work without a single unifying M.C. Yes, the beginning was a bit underwhelming—but things picked up quickly from there, and the rest of the night never lost momentum. For the most part, it also all went off without a hitch; everyone read the correct envelopes, injuries were minimal, and the insatiable Internet is now replete with a new set of reaction GIFs that should tide us all over until the next big show. What more can any of us ask for—aside from, once again, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga singing “Shallow” at every Oscar ceremony from now on?