Jimmy Kimmel’s return as Oscars host received an 18.9 rating in Nielsen’s overnight numbers from 8-11 p.m. ET, down 15.6 percent from his 2017 debut. Of course, the ABC special ran about 50 minutes after primetime’s cutoff, so these numbers are subject to some adjustment.
Last year’s Oscars landed a 22.4 rating in Nielsen’s overnight numbers, which count 56 metered markets. That was down 4.3 percent from 2016’s very preliminary numbers, when Chris Rock hosted.
Rock’s turn had already dipped 8 percent from its own predecessor.
The 2017 Oscars eventually tabulated 32.9 million total viewers, which was down 4 percent from the Rock-hosted ceremony. Last night’s overall audience tally should be in by noon PT today.
This year’s ABC special will need to stay north of 32.018 million — which is what host Jon Stewart and Best Picture “No Country for Old Men” got in 2008 — to avoid an all-time low audience return. Stewart managed a 20.8 in overnight returns.
Here are Sunday’s winners and nominees.