How many viewers watched the 2026 Oscars telecast in the United States?

The 2026 Oscars telecast was watched by an average of 17.86 million viewers in the United States.

The figure refers to the American television audience for the 98th Academy Awards, which aired on ABC and was also streamed on Hulu. It is an average audience measurement across the broadcast, rather than a count of every person who watched any portion of the ceremony.

The result represented a 9 percent decline from the previous year’s Oscars and made the 2026 ceremony the least-watched Oscars telecast since 2022. Even so, it remained the season’s most-watched primetime entertainment telecast, according to the ceremony’s reported ratings context.

Viewers sometimes confuse total viewers with household ratings or the 18–49 demographic rating. The ceremony recorded an 8.4 percent household figure and a 3.92 rating among viewers aged 18–49, but neither is the answer to this question. The requested national audience number is 17.86 million.