Oscars ratings up by 4%

- Ratings for this year's Academy Awards show were up 4 percent from last year, as host Billy Crystal returned to present the event, according to preliminary figures by The Nielsen Co. A total of 39.3 million U.S. people watched the grand event broadcast live by ABC from Hollywood & Highland Center in downtown Los Angeles Sunday night. Billy Crystal hosted the Oscars ceremony for the ninth time. However, it did not beat out another major event in musical arena, the Grammy Awards. CBS, which broadcast the event exclusively, boasted viewership of 39.9 million earlier this month, which marked the first time since 1984 that the Grammys drew a larger crowd than the Oscars. The ABC's awards failed to attract more younger audiences aged between 18 to 49, with a rating of 11.7 against Grammys' 14.1. A total of 37.9 million audiences watched the event last year in the United States, and the show's highest rating was achieved in 1998 when it drew 55.2 million viewers, buoyed by the screening of James Cameron's epic "Titanic." Detailed statistics regarding the ratings will be published by the Nielsen Co. later on Monday.