Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast boasted the highest viewership of the annual event since 2010, Walt Disney (DIS 0.18%) TV broadcasting subsidiary ABC announced Monday. Quoting figures from industry researcher Nielsen, ABC said the Oscars were seen by an audience averaging 40.3 million viewers.

This marks the second year in a row that the Oscars audience has grown. Overall viewership was 3% higher than for the 2012 broadcast, particularly among adults aged 18-49. That demographic's viewership number grew 11% on a year-over-year basis. More narrowly, the adults aged 18-34 category advanced 20% over last year, while the figure for men in the same age range surged 34%.

link