Maybe all that drama really was a good thing.

After years of falling ratings -- and a historic low tally in 2018 -- this year's Oscars telecast scored a double-digit percentage increase in viewership over last year's ceremony. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the broadcast notched 29.6 million viewers, which is up 11.5 percent from the 2018 event's 26.54 million viewers.

As for ratings share, that also saw a significant increase versus 2018's numbers. This year's ceremony scored a 7.7 percent share, an increase of 13 percent from 2018's 6.8 percent share.

Of course, as THR notes, those still aren't great numbers, especially considering that the show is still rebounding from all-time low totals. But it's a promising start for the Oscars, which weathered an insane amount of controversy in the lead-up to the broadcast, and still managed to pull off an exciting, breezy, and pretty unpredictable night of television.

While all the behind the scenes chaos probably did play a role in piquing audience curiosity, it probably didn't hurt that several of the films up for the night's biggest prizes were also huge hits, with devoted fan bases eager to tune in. And despite the controversy that's still swirling today over the new Best Picture champ, we have a feeling that the Academy is probably pretty pleased with the overall results.

We'll see if the sequel in 2020 can live up to 2019's promise.

[via: The Hollywood Reporter]