Despite surprise ending, Oscar gets second lowest rating in history

LOS ANGELES - The 89th Academy Awards may have had one of the most dramatic endings in its history, but it failed to give any help to the ratings.

The annual ceremony has brought in an average of 32.9 million viewers in the Untied States on Sunday night, down 4.4 percent from the 34.4 million audience a year earlier, Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Network said on Monday in a statement.

That was the second lowest level in Oscar history and the smallest audience since 2008, according to ratings data from Nielsen.

The highest point of the award rating came in 1998, when 55 million viewers in the United States watched blockbuster Titanic win Best Picture.

After nearly four-hour performance, the Hollywood's biggest night ended with a surprise twist when musical "La La Land" announced as the winner of Best Picture even though the award actually went to coming-of-age tale "Moonlight."

The producers of "La La Land" were interrupted when giving acceptance speech, as it was revealed that the presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty had named the wrong winner with the Best Actress envelope.