According to the Nielsen ratings company, Sunday's Oscars [1] were the least-watched edition of the show in history [2], at least since Nielsen started tracking the ratings in 1974. They scored just about 32 million viewers — which is down from down from last year [3]'s 40 million and is smaller than the number of people who watched this year's American Idol [4] premiere. The previous low came in 2003, when a Steve Martin-hosted ceremony brought in 33 million viewers.

I thought a lot of deserving films and performances were recognized [5] this year, and so I'm surprised that more people didn't tune in for the show. Why do you think they stayed away?
Source [6]