Oscars to Go Hostless Again for 2020 Ceremony on ABC
By With a month to go before the awards show, ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke made the announcement Wednesday at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour.
For the second year in a row, the Oscars will go hostless.
ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke made the announcement Wednesday during her time before press at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour in Pasadena. ABC will again broadcast the ceremony as part of its long-term agreement with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science.
“Let me confirm it now, together with the Academy, that there will be no traditional host this year,” Burke said, stressing the ceremony would repeat what worked last year.
Burke, in a March Creative Space interview with The Hollywood Reporter, suggested that ABC and the Academy would likely follow the same successful formula that saw a rare ratings uptick for the 2019 ceremony. “We’re having those conversations with the Academy right now,” she said at the time. “We are extremely happy with how the show went. Odds are you’ll see us repeating what we consider to be a successful formula.”
Last year’s kudocast, which saw Green Book win for best picture, averaged nearly 30 million viewers, up a whopping 11.5 percent year-over-year, and a 7.7 rating among the all-important adults 18-49 demographic, up 13 percent from a year ago. That bucked a downward spiral for the awards show, which in 2018 hit an all-time low of 26.54 million viewers and a 6.8 in the 18-49 demo.