Oscars 2017 Had The Smallest Audience In Almost A Decade

With many fan favorites catching a bundle of gold statuettes, throngs of talented actors and filmmakers sitting decked out in their literal Sunday best, and one chaotic turn of events at the evening's close flipping everything on its head, one might have expected the 89th Academy Awards to pull in quite an impressive audience. However, despite the dramatics that made for an entertaining night of television, the 2017 Oscars dipped down and drew a mere 32.9 million viewers—the smallest audience in nine years.

As reported by Variety, this Sunday's telecast didn't just suffer in the overall audience pull, it also saw a 13 percent dip in the crucial 18-49 demographic, hitting a 9.1 rating. These viewership stats haven't been this low since comedian, media critic, and former The Daily Show host Jon Stewart headed up the 80th Academy Awards back in 2008. Stewart as host drew in an audience of just 31.7 million viewers.

Over the past few years, Oscar audience count has been steadily decreasing. From a staggering 43.7 million viewers in 2014 to 37.3 million in 2015 and then even further to 34.3 million just last year, it looks as though the stars and the celebration aren't attracting people the way they used to.

This is certainly disappointing to hear, as many viewed last night's ceremony as equal parts entertaining and important (with particular regard to Mahershala Ali's Best Supporting Actor nab and Moonlight's Best Picture win), but it isn't entirely shocking. Nielsen Holdings's early numbers pointed toward a dip in viewership for the 2017 Oscars, according to Variety.

However, a handful of cities still managed to bump up the audience count, mostly in the large metropolitan areas. The top five markets were New York, with a 31.1 rating; San Diego sitting a few steps below with a 30.7 rating; Los Angeles trailing close behind at 30.5; Chicago, with an almost-identical rating of about 30.5; and San Francisco rounding out the ratings at 30.3.

Oscars 2017 has seen a stagehand give Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong winners envelope, Jimmy Kimmel attempt to connect to everyday folk in a drawn-out bit, the wrong woman listed in the "In Memoriam" segment, and now a huge drop in viewership. For the 89th Academy Awards and those at home watching, it seems like all that glittered wasn't gold.

Check out the full list of Oscars 2017 winners.