Academy Awards Ratings Highest In Years, For Some Reason

It turns out that putting movies like Avatar for Best Picture and having teen stars Miley Cyrus and Taylor Lautner present awards really does pay off for the Academy. Or maybe it was having Neil Patrick Harris do that opening number (everyone loves NPH!). Either way, despite having one of the most boring red carpets we’ve seen in awhile, the ratings for the Oscars this year were the highest they’ve been since 2005. But we think we know why.

According to The New York Times, an average 41.3 million people tuned in for Hollywood’s biggest event last night, though that number was lower in New York because of that whole Cablevision/ABC-Disney fiasco.

Here’s the catch though: that data includes the more than 30 million viewers who tuned in for “at least a few minutes of the show.” Which was probably the several minutes Ben Stiller was on stage dressed in Avatar makeup, or for as long as it took for Sandy Powell to piss everyone off with her Best Costume Design acceptance speech (“I already have two of these…”). Last year, only 32 million viewers tuned in to watch Slumdog Millionaire sweep the ceremony with Hugh Jackman presiding.

Which tells us what? The teen ratings really paid off, so keep letting Jake Gyllenhaal chew gum on the red carpet and Miley slouch all she wants. As long as Zac Efron and co. are doing the presentations, the A.D.D. generation will tune in…and then get bored and switch stations again.

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