ABC's Politically Charged 2017 Oscars Telecast On Par With 2016 Ratings

The preliminary numbers are in and Walt Disney-owned network ABC garnered a 22.4/36 Nielsen overnight rating for its telecast of the 89th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday. That means 22.4% of households with a TV watched the awards ceremony and 36% of households actually watching TV at the time were tuned into the Oscars. "Moonlight" took home the night's grand prize of best picture, beating out favorite "La La Land" in a surprise twist ending. The ceremony, coming a little more than a month after President Donald Trump's inauguration, served as a platform for filmmakers and host Jimmy Kimmel to make political commentary and jokes. The 2017 telecast was on par with last year's show, which had a 22.5/36 rating. Shares of Disney are up nearly 16% in the trailing 12-month period, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 21% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 25% in the same time frame.