Oscars draws strong audience

Sunday's (March 02) Oscar telecast drew 43 million viewers in the United States, delivering the biggest audience for the Academy Awards in a decade, but divided critics, who mostly liked host Ellen DeGeneres but thought the show ran too long.

Nielsen ratings data on Monday showed the audience that the audience grew 6.4 percent from last year.

The Oscars attract the biggest non-sports TV audience in the United States each year, and the show drew its largest viewership since 2004.

As for the show itself, "12 Years a Slave" won the Academy Award for best picture on Sunday, making history as the first movie from a black director to win the film industry's highest honor in 86 years of the Oscars.

The slavery drama prevailed over space thriller "Gravity" from Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, which nevertheless racked up the most Oscars of the night with seven, including the best director honor for Cuaron, a first for a Latin American director.

"Non-Stop", a thr