AUDIENCE FOR 95TH OSCARS REBOUNDS SLIGHTLY TO 18.7 MILLION

Whether it was the lingering drama of The Slap or the prominence of blockbusters in the best picture race, a bigger audience was lured back to the Oscars this year.

- 

The 95th Academy Awards, which aired Sunday night on ABC, was viewed by an estimated 18.7 million, according to preliminary Fast National Live+Same Day numbers released by ABC. That's up 12% from last year's show, but still low compared to most years.

The evening's main counterprogramming, the season finale of "The Last of Us" pulled in 8.2 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max.

The show began at 9 p.m. EST, an hour after the Oscars started.