The ratings for the awards shows don’t matter anymore.
The SAG Awards cooked up about 1 million viewers across all platforms and showings on Sunday night. It’s not a lot but it was a short show with little entertainment value. It was just a matter of getting it over with.
SAG Awards did around 505K on TBS, 452K on TNT at 9pm. It was over in an hour. When it was repeated at 11pm on TNT it picked up another 179,000. If there were other showings on their networks, the audience was minimal.
What does it mean for the Oscars? Nothing. SAG was all Zoom, it was very much for the trade, “inside baseball” and all that. The Academy Awards are a big entertainment. But few people have seen this year’s movies. The Oscars will score around 10 million, if lucky, and be happy with that.
That doesn’t diminish the movies this year or the people who made them. It was just a bizarre year.
But PS, the opening sketch with Ted Lasso didn’t help bring in eyes. It was an off putter of every kind. Note to Oscars: the opening has to pull people in, not drive them away. Don’t make it obscure. Please don’t make “Tenet” jokes at the top of the show. Everyone will leave.
