While South Korean film Parasite made history on Sunday by becoming the first-ever foreign language film to win an Oscar for Best Picture, the Academy Awards ceremony broke another record by reaching the smallest live American TV audience in its history. The glamorous event has been a TV favorite for decades but it has been experiencing a slide in viewers in recent years with the number of people tuning in on Sunday night slumping 20% to 23.6 million. The figures were released by Nielsen and represent a sharp decline on last year's 29.5 million viewers. The previous low point occurred in 2018 when 26.5 million people watched the show.

The continuing downward trend has been attributed to numerous factors, particularly a decline in live TV viewing amid a boom in streaming. There are other reasons, however, and some commentators believe that an earlier date in the calendar for the 2020 Oscars might have eliminated some of the hype surrounding the event. A continuing lack of diversity is also likely to have contributed to the ratings slump while opinions are divided about whether the lack of a host had any influence. Last year was the first time the even took place without a host in an attempt to speed it up and that was cited as a key reason for the increase in popularity in 2019. Unfortunately for the Oscars, the new format couldn't boost its ratings for 2020.