How the Oscars 2025 Performed Online

This year’s Oscars ceremony garnered mountains of attention on social media.

Hosted by Conan O'Brien and with presenters including Selena Gomez and Willem Dafoe, the awards had millions of watchful eyes waiting to share their opinion. 

The 97th Academy Awards was held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles this year and had a nod towards the recent fires that devastated the area. Plenty of celebs were in attendance, with notable performances from Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, Lisa from Blackpink, Doja Cat, and more. 

Let’s dive into the online chatter from the event to see what got people talking.

Note on methodology: All the data mentioned here was gathered from 3 PM PST to 9 PM PST on March 2, 2025. All data comes from public posts on social media sites, blogs, forums, and review sites.  

How this year’s event compares

The Oscars is back.  

After seeing a steady decline in viewership in recent years, last year’s event brought in the most viewers in a decade. And while we don’t have this year’s viewership statistics just yet, the growth in online mentions bodes well for the Oscar’s success. 

According to Brandwatch data, there were over 2.17 million mentions during the Oscars ceremony this year. That’s an 14% increase on last year’s event. 

So, what made more people tune in? Here’s what made people tick this year. 

The biggest talking points

We used Brandwatch Consumer Research to look at minute-by-minute mentions of the Oscars. 

Interestingly, the most discussed minute-by-minute moment this year wasn’t the Best Picture winner, as we usually find in our analysis. Instead, I’m Still Here winning Best International Feature Film stood far above the rest as the most talked-about moment of the night. 

The film made history at this year’s event, becoming the first Brazilian film to win the award – and it was also the first to be nominated. The film's victory marks a milestone achievement for Brazilian cinema on the global stage – and Brazilian fans were quick to share their support. 

This post from the Academy got over 130,000 reposts alone – and 96% of sentiment-categorized mentions about the film were positive.

Emilia Pérez was the front-runner with 13 nominations, but walked away with just two wins – instead, Anora came out on top. The film’s win of Best Picture was the second most-mentioned moment during this year’s ceremony – though only by a slim margin over the third and fourth biggest peaks. Anora’s success didn’t stop there, racking up five award wins this year. Director Sean Baker is now the first person to win four Oscars for the same film. 

One of the biggest fan highlights during the ceremony was a performance by Margaret Qualley, Lisa, Doja Cat, and Raye. The talent took to the stage in a James Bond tribute early in the ceremony – and fans were encapsulated by the performance. 

Blackpink star Lisa was a particular hit – seeing a monumental 446,000k mentions during the Oscars event. As usual, K-pop fans from across the globe tuned in to share support during the performance. 

After making her acting debut this year in the HBO television series The White Lotus, Lisa is set to be one to watch in 2025. 

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo also put on an emotional show with their Wicked-inspired opening performance – nearly bringing fans to tears. 

Wicked brought home two Oscars this year for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. And while fans expected more wins from this well-talked about film, the performance definitely satiated Grande and Erivo fans’ hunger. 

An unexpected talking point throughout the ceremony was Adam Sandler’s conversation with host Conan O’Brien – who pointed out his unusual outfit choice. Sandler – who’s known for his interesting style choices – turned up in out-of-place casual clothes. And fans found it hilarious – there were over 25,000 mentions of Sandler during the event. 

Let’s talk about the host

This year, Conan O'Brien turned his hand to Oscars hosting for the first time – a highly-anticipated move that got both fans and critics talking. 

With almost 50,000 mentions during the ceremony, fans were quick to comment on Conan’s hosting skills on social media. When looking at sentiment-categorized mentions, opinions were theatrically divided – with a near-perfect 50-50 split between negative and positive sentiment in mentions about Conan. 

One celebrated moment during Conan’s hosting was when he welcomed a team of firefighters on stage in a tribute to the recent fires that devastated Los Angeles. 

While hosting the Oscars is always a tough job, Conan’s performance was relatively well-received – especially when compared to Jimmy Kimmel’s hosting last year, who’s negative mentions sat at a whopping 80%. 

The award categories

Let’s dive into the most discussed award categories, according to Brandwatch Consumer Research. 

Surprisingly, Best Picture didn’t take home the most mentions this year. Instead, Best International Feature Film soared above the competition – with an impressive 121,000 online mentions during the event. 

As mentioned, the film was won by Brazilian nominee I’m Still Here. Brazil has submitted films to the category every year since 1960 and, until tonight, had never secured a win in the category. This explains why the win cause so much joy online – in fact, 96% of emotion-categorized mentions about the film were joyful. 

The film tells the real-life story of Eunice Paiva’s decades-long search for justice after her husband’s disappearance during Brazil’s military dictatorship. 

Best Actress was the second most discussed award category, with over 50,000 mentions. Mikey Madison took home the win for her role in Anora. 

The category saw some controversy, as some believed Demi Moore deserved the win. Yet that didn’t stop fans from supporting Madison in full force – 92% of emotion-categorized mentions were joyful. 

One of the most-anticipated wins is always Best Picture. And this year, the category received just under 50,000 mentions during the ceremony. Anora was crowned with the award, despite being the underdog. 

The film swept up awards throughout the night. In fact, the only category that Anora was nominated for, but did not win, was Best Supporting Actor – which was won by Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain. 

Roundup

This year’s Oscars was a hit. With over 2.17 million online mentions throughout the ceremony alone, interest in the Academy Awards is growing. And getting involved in the social media chatter during the event can help brands to tap into these vibrant online conversations. 

We gathered all the stats from this blog using Brandwatch Consumer Research. If you’d like to find out more on how you can utilize social listening to level up your brand, you can find out more here.