How Twitter Topped TV on Oscar Night

Chris Rock hooked audiences at first, but over the course of a long night, the ABC broadcast lost steam. On social media, however, frenzy over Leonardo DiCaprio's long-awaited best actor win surpassed the Twitter record set by 2014's Ellen selfie.

March 2, 2016 5:00am

How Twitter Topped TV on Oscar Night — Kevin Winter/Getty Images

A version of this story first appeared in the March 18 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

There’s no denying the power of Leonardo DiCaprio.

The star of The Revenant drove a huge spike in tweets during Sunday’s Oscar broadcast when he took home his first Academy Award after six nominations (five for acting, one as a producer on best picture nominee Wolf of Wall Street).

In the United States, DiCaprio’s win generated 182,000 tweets per minute near the end of the broadcast. The global 440,000 tweets per minute about the moment were enough to top the Ellen selfie from the 2014 broadcast as the most tweeted moment in Oscar history.

While Twitter conversation stayed consistent throughout the night before DiCaprio’s big win, TV viewership waned after plateauing around 45 minutes into the ceremony. The broadcast’s 34.4 million viewers made it the third-lowest-rated show on record following the 2008 (featuring host Jon Stewart and best picture winner No Country for Old Men) and 2003 (with host Steve Martin and best picture winner Chicago) ceremonies.

Here were the night’s biggest moments according to Nielsen, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and more.

Click “download” to see a larger version of the chart below.