Eleven percent jump for Oscars rating

With a slew of popular movies up for awards, and “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane serving as first-time host, Sunday night’s Academy Awards saw strong growth over last year.

The ceremony averaged a 13.0 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen, up 11 percent from last year’s 11.7.

It was the highest-rated telecast in the demo since 2010, despite lasting more than a half hour longer than last year’s ceremony. It finished up just after midnight.

The show drew 40.3 million total viewers, up 3 percent from last year and its second straight year of growth.

It was the most-watched Oscars since 2010 and the second-most-watched since 2005.

Further proof that bringing in MacFarlane as host drew in younger viewers, the show surged among adults 18-34, up 20 percent over last year to an 11.3. That was the biggest rating for the awards program in the demo since 2007.

Much of the growth came among young men, who are not usually big Oscar viewers. The men 18-34 rating soared 34 percent, while men 18-49 was up 16 percent and men 25-54 grew 11 percent.

ABC says it was the most-watched entertainment telecast on TV since March 2010.

Analysts had predicted that ABC would see stronger numbers. In addition to drawing in new viewers with the edgy MacFarlane, who received mixed reviews, this year’s Oscars actually had a number of popular films vying for trophies.

Most of the nine films nominated made more than $100 million at the box office domestically, considered a sign of commercial success.

And young nominees such as Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway and Quvenzhane Wallis drew additional attention to the ceremony.

Oscar.com and the Oscar app also saw gains over last year. Since last month’s nominations announcement, 15.8 million people visited the site, up 28 percent over last year.

And the app was downloaded 432,000 times, up 16 percent over last year.

Some 4.6 million visited the web site or used the Oscar app Sunday night.

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