The Oscars gained 1.5 million viewers after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock

Some have said the Will Smith slap against comedian Chris Rock was a ratings stunt to get viewers onto the Oscars broadcast. I don’t believe it was. Considering the negative press Will Smith is getting (and some for Chris Rock as well regarding an in-poor-taste joke), if this were fake, we’d be hearing it from the parties involved by now. That’s not to say that the slap didn’t spark viewer interest, however. Samba TV and Deadline are reporting ratings spikes for the telecast and The Oscars did see a bump after the shocking moment.

Per Samba TV, 1.5 million U.S. households began watching the 2022 Oscars after the slap. That represents about 13% of the total viewership for the ceremony which rose to an average of 16.6 million viewers when the final numbers were tallied yesterday. While it’s still the second-lowest Oscar telecast ever, the ceremony did break social media records. Per Deadline, the 94th Academy Awards was “the most social Oscars telecast on record”. The ceremony saw a jump of 139% in social media activity over the previous year and it registered 22.7 million social interactions. You can check out Samba TV’s post about the numbers below!

Deadline broke things down a bit more by specific moments for the telecast. There was a jump of 614,000 viewers in the 11:00 PM – 11:14 PM ET slot, which is when Will Smith took the stage to accept his Best Actor honors for King Richard. At that peak, 17.4 million viewers were watching the show with a solid 3.9 in the 18-49 demographic.

In a bit of positive news, Smith’s Oscar-winning speech wasn’t the highest-rated moment of the night. When Troy Kotsur won Best Supporting Actor for CODA during the 9:15 PM – 9:29 PM ET period, viewership hit 17.7 million viewers and a 4.0 in the 18-49 demo. It brings me some satisfaction that this poignant moment actually had the most eyes on it.

What are YOUR thoughts on the Oscar ratings breakdown, and were you among the viewers who tuned in after The Slap?