Ratings for 'train wreck' Oscars at record low

Ratings in the United States averaged 9.85 million, 58% below last year's final tally of 23.6 million viewers. Photo: Reuters

US television ratings for Sunday's reinvented Oscars ceremony plummeted to a new low, according to preliminary Nielsen data for a show that USA Today called "a train wreck" and the New York Times described as "a dead room".

The audience on Walt Disney Co's ABC broadcast network averaged 9.85 million, 58% below last year's final tally of 23.6 million viewers for the film industry's highest honors. Final numbers that include people who watched at bars and restaurants are expected to be released on Tuesday.