After Will Smith-Chris Rock Slap Oscars Ratings Go Up 50%, Still Second-Worst In Academy History

The
Academy
Awards
had
been
suffering
from
low
ratings
for
a
couple
of
years
and
this
year’s
ceremony
has
been
under
pressure
to
perform
better.
Producer
Will
Packer
had
assured
that
the
2022
Oscars
will
be
a
crowd-pleasing
event,
however,
the
rating
this
year
has
still
been
marked
as
the
second-worst
rating
in
Academy
history.

Vanity
Fair
Oscars
After-Party
2022
Red
Carpet:
Sophie
Turner,
Kim
Kardashian,
Sebastian
Stan
&
More

The
2022
Oscars
drew
more
viewers
than
last
year’s
record-low
ceremony.
According
to
Variety,
the
four-hour-long
telecast
saw
15.36
million
viewers.
The
ratings
showed
56%
improvement
over
the
2021
ceremony,
which
had
seen
only
10.4
million
viewers.

The
low
rating
had
led
The
Academy
to
make
changes
in
this
year’s
ceremony
from
announcing
eight
awards
categories
before
the
televised
ceremony,
appointing
three
female
hosts
Amy
Schumer,
Wanda
Sykes
and
Regina
Hall
to
adding
performances
by
Best
Song
nominees
like
Beyonce,
Billie
Eilish
and
others.

This
year,
the
Oscars
also
introduced
fan
voting
for
top
film
and
movie
moments
via
Twitter.
Still,
the
biggest
moment
of
the
night
turned
out
to
be
Will
Smith
slapping
presenter
Chris
Rock
over
a
joke
about
his
wife,
Jada
Pinkett
Smith.

Will
Smith
Makes
A
Public
Apology
To
Chris
Rock,
Academy
Announces
Formal
Review

The
incident
was
followed
by
a
tearful
acceptance
speech
by
Will
Smith
for
the
Best
Lead
Actor
award.
Both
moments
took
place
in
the
final
hour
of
the
Oscars
ceremony
and
it
generated
intense
social
media
response.
According
to
The
Hollywood
Reporter
and
analytics
company,
Samba
TV
revealed
that
by
the
time
the
incident
took
place,
the
performances
were
over
and
the
peak
of
Oscar
viewership
had
already
passed.

Other
biggest
wins
of
the
awards
night
included
Best
Picture,
Best
Supporting
Actor
and
Best
Adapted
Screenplay
winner

CODA.
Meanwhile,

Dune
won
six
awards
out
of
10
nominations
and

The
Power
of
The
Dog
won
Best
Director
out
of
12
nominations.
Jessica
Chastain
won
the
Best
Actress
for

The
Eyes
of
Tammy
Faye.