'The biggest commercial juggernaut ever': Why the Oscars peaked in 1998 - and the real reason why they've slumped

The most-watched Academy Awards ceremony ever was a lavish affair in which Titanic won 11 Oscars. Since then, viewing figures have plummeted. But why?

Whatever treats are in store at this year's Academy Awards, it's safe to assume that none of them will involve an enormous Kodiak bear. Things were different in 1998. At the 70th Oscars, Mike Myers was presenting the trophy for best sound effects editing when two doors slid apart behind him to reveal Hollywood's premier ursine thespian, Bart the Bear.

Bart was a big star in more ways than one: he had appeared in Legends of the Fall and The Edge, among other films, and he was a terrifying 9ft 7.5in (2.90m) tall. On stage at the Oscars, he looked about twice that size. With a little help from his trainer, Doug Seus, Bart handed Myers the envelope with the winner's name in it, at which point Myers quite understandably declared: "I just soiled myself."

This surreal episode was only one of the evening's mind-boggling moments. As befitting a 70th anniversary bash, it was a lavish, over-the-top celebration of Hollywood's past and present. And in more ways than one, it represented the Oscars' pinnacle: a golden year for the awards during a decade in which, according to the data on Best picture winners we have crunched, they were more popular and populist than at any other time in their history. Today's producers may want to study why 1998's ceremony was such a cultural phenomenon – and what has gone wrong since.

Elsewhere in the ceremony, a montage zipped through all 69 previous best picture winners; Martin Scorsese presented a special award to Stanley Donen, the director of Singin' in the Rain; a "family photo" was organised, in which every surviving best actor and actress winner posed together.

The industry's confidence was demonstrated by Celine Dion and Michael Bolton belting out power ballads. The hip young stars and screenwriters of Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, brought along their mothers as dates. And two Oscar-nominated Rose Dawsons – 22-year-old Kate Winslet and 87-year-old Gloria Stuart – sat side-by-side. Their best actress and best supporting actress nods were just two of the 14 nominations racked up by James Cameron's Titanic – it went on to win 11 – so when Cameron waved his best director statuette, and shouted, "I'm the king of the world!", he had a point.

This was the climax of the most-watched Oscar ceremony ever: 57 million people in the US tuned in to see the glamour and excess live on ABC. As evidence of what a pop cultural event it was, that was 4.5 million more viewers than watched the finale of hit sitcom Friends in 2004

But in subsequent years the Academy Awards' viewing figures have sunk like a ruptured transatlantic liner. In 1999, 46 million people watched. The numbers hovered between 30 million and 40 million in the early 2000s, but they plummeted after that: 27 million in 2018, 24 million in 2020, hitting 20 million for the first time in 2018, and reaching an all-time low of 10 million in the Covid-blighted year of 2021. Last year, the figure was 20 million again – roughly a third of what it was when Cameron reigned supreme.

Film journalist Stephanie Bunbury tells the BBC that there are several factors behind the tumbling figures: a "dwindling interest in cinema", the "shift away from appointment [TV] viewing" brought about by streaming, and "the utter naffness of the........

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