The prestigious Academy Awards marked its 96th year on Sunday, with anticipation this year centred heavily around the Barbenheimer phenomenon which was expected to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Using CintSnap – a way to survey individuals and understand opinions quickly – we conducted a poll with approximately 300 respondents, to take the temperature of public opinion in the United States.
We set out to discover if the glitz and glam of the almost century old Awards ceremony still holds weight in determining:
- the viewing habits of filmgoers, and
- why people tune in
- how predictions played out
- who they thought should have won the coveted Oscar statues
Pull of the Oscars
What impact do the Oscars have on viewership? The buzz and excitement that the Awards show drums up, certainly have a draw with 59% of people surveyed said they would be more inclined to catch a film that has won an Oscar. 42% said a ‘Best Picture’ nomination would pique their interest.
In recent years, the event has witnessed a decline in viewership.
In 2023, 18.7million people tuned in which was a slight increase from the years before, but a far cry from its peak of 55 million viewers back in 1998.
What was the biggest reason viewers tune in for? 30% of people polled said they watched the Oscars to find out who won, while 12% were keen to scope out fashion trends on the red carpet, and 10% enjoyed the celebrity performances.
Predictions vs results
Ahead of this year’s Oscars, the highest percentage of people polled (34%) correctly predicted that Oppenheimer would win. This was followed by Barbie (22%), Killers of the Flower Moon (10%), and American Fiction (8%).
Were the Oscar winners also the People’s winners?
Best Picture: Nearly half of people surveyed thought that Oppenheimer deserved to win, followed by 14% for Barbie, and 12% for Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor: 40% of people surveyed agreed Cillian Murphy deserved his win for Oppenheimer, while the second most popular choice was Bradley Cooper for Maestro (10%).
Best Actress: 49% of people surveyed agreed that Emma Stone’s acting in Poor Things was Oscar-worthy, while 10% thought that Lily Gladstone should have taken the Globe home for her performance in The Killers of the Flower Moon.
Best Director: 44% of people surveyed thought Christopher Nolan deserved to win for Oppenheimer, followed by 11% for Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon.
For many, this year’s stand out moment came in the form of Ryan Gosling stealing the audiences’ hearts with his rendition of “I’m just Ken” from the Barbie soundtrack.
Meanwhile, the world remains eager to lap up what the movie industry has in store, and it seems more stops need to be pulled to appeal to younger generations and capture the attention of a waning audience.
Methodology
A ‘CintSnap’ is a snapshot into the minds of general consumers. The data featured was pulled using the Cint platform and leverages Cint’s programmatic research tech. A census demographic of approximately 300 United States consumers was surveyed for each question.
Cint’s research technology helps our customers to post questions and get answers from real people, in real time – and to use these insights to build business strategies, publish research, and accurately measure the impact of advertising efforts. Find out more here.
