Oscars down 11% vs. last year

Morning Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

Sunday's Academy Awards telecast on ABC saw its ratings decline about 10% from last year, according to overnight ratings from Nielsen, suggesting this year's kudocast could come in as the second lowest-rated to date — behind only the 2003 show that honored "Chicago" with the top prize.

From 8 to 11:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, ABC averaged a 27.1 household rating/40 share in Nielsen's 55 metered markets, an 11% decline in rating from last year's 30.1/43 but up from the valley of 2003 (25.5/37). In its normal pattern, the telecast grew in rating during each half-hour until around 10:30 p.m. and then leveled off in its final hour.

The top five highest-rated markets were New York (36.5/51), Chicago (33.2/47), San Francisco (31.7/51), Philadelphia (31.7/46) and Atlanta (30.7/43).

Competitively, ABC's combination of the Oscars and its pre-show beat the other four broadcast networks combined in the overnights (22.9/34 vs. 16.8/25).

Reliable total-viewer and demo estimates will be issued Monday afternoon by Nielsen.