Ratings Up Slightly for ABC’s Oscar Telecast

ABC’s telecast of the Academy Awards Monday night drew slightly higher ratings than last year, with 744,000 added households tuning in, Nielsen Media Research reported Tuesday.

The program, which was dominated by “Dances With Wolves” and ran 3 hours and 27 minutes, registered a 28.4 rating (about 26.4 million homes) and a 48% share of the audience, compared to a 27.9 rating and identical 48 share last year, when “Driving Miss Daisy” was chosen best picture.

However, the Oscar show’s diminishing audience share was well below those of the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1983, for instance, when “Gandhi” won, the telecast scored a 38 rating and 59 share, with 31,654,000 homes tuned in.