2009 Oscar Ratings Are Up; Hugh Jackman as Host Seems to Be a Success

The 2009 Oscar ratings are projecting success for the years telecast of the Academy Awards. The 2009 Oscar ratings are reportedly up 6% from last year, and are pointing towards Hugh Jackman being a big success as the host of the 81st annual awards show. Whether it is a mix of the way the show was hosted, or the films that were nominated, but more people tuned in to this years show than the one hosted in 2008 by comedian Jon Stewart. These are early numbers though, and haven't been completely verified by Nielsen but it looks good for ABC so far.

Preliminary data from the Oscar telecast (according to E! Entertainment) is that an estimated 33.6 million people watched the telecast on average from 5:30pm to 8pm Pacific Time. This isn't quite the entirety of the show though, so more numbers are soon to come, but it's safe to say that this was more of a success than the 2008 telecast. Putting the numbers into perspective, having an audience of 33.6 million at any point means that the Oscars outdid an average night of American Idol, as well as every other regular television show on the major networks this season.

The success of this years Academy Awards is good news for the telecast, as they have been struggling in recent years to return to the top of the ratings platform. By providing an extremely entertaining show hosted by Hugh Jackman, it could lead the Oscars in the right direction, and show that this type of hosting format could work well for the long run of the broadcast. Rather than the typical routine of stand-up comedian type monologues, Jackman did a sort-of song and dance that not only drew in the audience, but really entertained like no host has done before.

On a typical Sunday night of television, a show like The Amazing Race or Desperate Housewives can expect the best rating numbers, and even they don't cross 20 million viewers very often. Sunday Night Football has done well in the past, as does the Super Bowl (of course), but getting 30 million viewers is quite an accomplishment for the show. Producers have to be happy with these numbers, and now the Academy Awards has something to build off of in the coming years.

Source: E! Ratings Numbers