It was a typical post-Oscars love fest at the Governor's Ball after last Sunday's . Champagne glasses clinked, Sinners star proudly posed for pictures with his Best Actor Oscar and Hollywood's elite congratulated themselves on another golden night.
But even as the champagne corks popped, alarm bells were ringing - because while the stars sparkled, viewers turned off in droves.
Last Sunday's viewing figures showed only 17.86 million Americans tuned in to watch the ceremony on ABC and Hulu, a nine percent drop from the 19.7 million viewers last year, representing the lowest audience since 2022.
The feeling in Hollywood this week has been one of unrelenting doom and gloom, the Daily Mail has learned.
A female member of the Oscars ruling body, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, told the Daily Mail: 'There is real anxiety about the future of the Oscars. The ratings keep plunging and even though the show will be taken over by in a couple of years, there is a genuine fear that nothing will stop the hemorrhaging.'
She added: 'It feels like the Oscars was this train that was on track for so many years, but now it's coming off the rails and no one knows how to save it.'
While critics were generally positive about host Conan O'Brien and highlights of the broadcast, including Barbra Streisand singing a live tribute to her late co-star Robert Redford, the abysmal ratings soured the mood.
A producer at ABC said: 'Everyone came out of the show on Sunday feeling fairly positive. The broadcast went well and there were not too many political speeches, which always turns people off. But when the numbers landed there was total silence.'
While critics were generally positive about host Conan O'Brien and highlights of the broadcast, the abysmal ratings soured the mood
Last Sunday's viewing figures showed only 17.86 million Americans tuned in to watch the ceremony on ABC and Hulu, representing the lowest audience since 2022
'We threw everything at it this year,' they said, calling out hype for Sinners, all the influencers 'invited to cover the red carpet in the hope they would draw fans in' and the KPop performance. 'But it was a big fat dud.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Academy for comment.
So, what has gone wrong?
Back in 1998, at the height of Titanic movie mania, more than 50 million people tuned in to watch the Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet love story sweep the board with 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Some blame the rise in streaming services and the fact that most people would now rather stay in the comfort of their living room to watch a movie rather than head to the local cinema.
'A night at the movies is expensive,' one studio executive told the Daily Mail. 'Between the escalating cost of tickets and the exorbitant price of snacks and drinks inside the theatre, you can't blame people for staying away. So, there is less of a communal feeling about movies. When Titanic won big, we'd all been to the movies to see it, so we tuned into the Oscars because we wanted to see Leo and the movie win. Now people don't know half of the films that are nominated.'
However, Sinners was a major box office draw and KPop Demon Hunters is still Netflix's most watched movie ever, and both soundtracks have seen an influx in streams since the Oscars.
The three-plus hour running time of the show is the major turn-off for many, though.
Back in 1998, at the height of Titanic movie mania, more than 50 million people tuned in to watch the Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet love story sweep the board with 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director
The ABC producer said: 'Gen Z and Millennials have the attention span of a gnat because they grew up in the digital era. The Oscars, like many awards shows, are simply too long.'
However, the digital generation was definitely scrolling and engaging with content. The Daily Mail understands that audience growth on Academy social platforms has increased in recent years, and the Oscars was the No. 1 trending X topic worldwide throughout the Sunday telecast. So, the content is indeed reaching people, despite changing attention spans.
The problem, they explained, is that skipping categories 'few people really care about,' like editing and sound, to cut run time always leads to an 'outcry' or 'offending' Academy members. And this year's addition of the extra award for casting only makes it longer.
They said: 'They've tried to make the Academy younger and more diverse but the people in power are still old white liberals, and this is the hill they've chosen to die on.'
Though, it's not just the Oscars suffering.
This year's Grammy Awards drew 14.4 million viewers across CBS and Paramount+, around a million fewer than last year, and the Golden Globes were watched by just 8.66 million viewers on CBS, down from the 9.3 million who saw the 2025 ceremony.
'It's a problem across the board,' the producer added. 'People don't want to sit through three-plus hours of an awards show. We've done surveys and there is always pushback against Hollywood liberals. People on both coasts don't realize there are vast swathes of America who don't think like they do. With the exception of Marvel and the animated films of Disney Pixar, Hollywood isn't making the kind of movies people want to go and see. And that's a big problem for these awards shows. People don't like being lectured by elites.'
One of the biggest stories this year didn't even unfold on stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Instead, it came afterwards when someone posted an image of the empty theatre filled with trash from the snack boxes filled with Skinny Pop popcorn and dark chocolate Raisinets.
One show attendee said: 'They have these brown snack boxes under your seat because they know the Oscars always run over. People used to leave early because they were starving and they didn't have enough seat fillers to fill the empty seats.'
Social media lashed out at the hypocrisy of Hollywood stars like DiCaprio and others who constantly lecture about being eco-friendly.
'They have these brown snack boxes under your seat because they know the Oscars always run over. People used to leave early because they were starving and they didn't have enough seat fillers to fill the empty seats'
After a photo of the empty theatre filled with trash circulated online, social media lashed out at the hypocrisy of Hollywood stars like DiCaprio and others who constantly lecture about being eco-friendly
'What planet are they on?' one person wrote on X. 'These are the people telling us to cut down on carbon emissions while flying around in private jets and who tell us to clean up the planet when they leave a theatre piled high with trash!'
While the future of snack boxes at the Oscars is uncertain, the show itself will be moving. Starting in 2029, the Oscars will air on YouTube in a five-year exclusive deal worth a reported $150 million annually to the Academy.
The move, according to the Academy member, was to save the show.
'People were shocked when we did the deal, but it's about more than money. It's about the survival of the Oscars. We're already talking about how YouTube will shake up the coverage. Acceptance speeches will be clipped to under a minute. And when a moment goes viral, the YouTube algorithm will push, push, push it. It's not about the main event anymore, the live broadcast. It's about online traffic, viral moments and the afterlife of the show online.'
They continued: 'The Oscars are having an existential crisis and we at the Academy realize we need to totally change our thinking if we want the show to survive.'
So will the Oscars lose prestige?
The Academy member laughed out loud.
'This isn't about prestige anymore, it's about our very survival. Everyone knows that in Hollywood, the show must go on. Well, the only way this show is going to survive is if we drag it kicking and screaming into the digital age. And that's precisely what we are planning to do.'
