Historically , the " Oscarcast " has pulled in a bigger haul when box-office hits are favored to win the Best Picture trophy . More than 57.25 million viewers tuned to the telecast for the 70th Academy Awards in 1998 , the year of '' Titanic '' , which generated close to US$ 500 million at the North American box office and 1.2 billion dollars worldwide pre-Oscars , with the final box office haul during its initial 1997 – 98 run being 600.8 million US$ in the US and 1.84 billion US$ worldwide , both sky-high box office records back then ( they were only supassed 12 years later in 2010 ) . The 76th Academy Awards ceremony , in which '' The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King '' ( pre-telecast box office earnings of US$ 368 million ) received 11 Awards including Best Picture , drew 43.56 million viewers . The most watched ceremony based on Nielsen ratings to date , however , was the 42nd Academy Awards ( Best Picture '' Midnight Cowboy '' ) which drew a 43.4 % household rating on April 7 , 1970
76th Academy Awards
76th Academy Awards
Academy Awards