For the 81^st Annual Academy Awards that were held Sunday night, the ratings registered a significant increase from last year’s number of viewers, which translated as the lowest rating, with only 32 million viewers in the United States, the lowest since 1974.

The preliminary estimates that were released by Nielsen Media Research showed that this year’s Oscars were watched by an average of 36.3 million viewers on ABC network, the event having lasted more than three hours.

The broadcast of the Academy Awards registered its all time high in terms of ratings back in 1998, when 55 million tuned in for the event that was dominated by the movie „Titanic.”

In 2007, the Oscars’ ratings amounted to 40.2 million, while this year, ABC took over the night overall, having outrun Fox, which offered viewers live Nascar coverage all throughout primetime and drew 9.7 million people in front of their television sets.

Fox was followed by CBS, which came in third with „60 Minutes,” which was broadcast at 7 p.m. and had an audience of 9.2 million viewers, and „The Amazing Race,” aired at 8 p.m. and watched by 7.8 million people. The two shows were followed by reruns of „Cold Case” at 9 p.m. with 6.9 million viewers and „The Unit” at 10 p.m. with 5.4 million.

The fourth position in terms of ratings was taken by NBC network.