While event programming may not be affected by ratings changes as often as other shows, clearly the numbers have been down in recent years for the Oscars.
That’s because there’s still a water cooler mentality related to big event shows, including awards shows like the Oscars.
Fewer people are watching TV live these days, but big event programming has somewhat avoided the trend where people catch up on their favorite TV shows on different times than they initially air.
We’ll have to wait and see if this is a trend the major networks are eventually able to reverse or if this will simply become more and more common.