Oscars ratings hit all-time low for 2020 ceremony

For the second year in a row, the prestigious event had no main host but an assortment of presenters and performers, with a total of 23.6 million people tuning in to watch live.

This is a reduction of roughly six million people from last year's Oscars, which were the first since 2014 to see an uptick in viewership.

It is possible that there was increased interest in 2019 due to the controversy surrounding comedian Kevin Hart, which saw him leave the show without a host for the first time in decades.

The Academy and broadcaster ABC were pleased with 2019's ratings, prompting them to adopt the same format this year, but that could change after this outcome.

While an audience of 23.6 million people may sound impressive, this is a little over half of what the ceremony achieved in 2014, the year of Ellen DeGeneres' famous Oscar selfie.

These days, the show is up against a lot of competition from streaming services, especially because many of the films nominated are usually independent offerings that mainstream audiences haven't seen.

Among the famous faces to perform this year were Janelle Monae, who sang an ambitious opening number, as well as rapper Eminem, who gave a surprise rendition of 8 Mile's Lose Yourself.

South Korean film Parasite walked away with Best Picture, the top honour of the night, making it the first foreign-language film to do so.