Oscars 2022: What DNS Data Revealed About Live-Event Traffic

Major televised events are a reliable stress test for internet services, and the 94th Academy Awards on March 27, 2022, was no exception. Using DNS resolution data as a proxy for traffic — the same method applied during Super Bowl LVI analysis — Cloudflare Radar tracked how US internet users reacted to the ceremony in real time. Baseline figures were calculated using the mean DNS traffic between 08:00-12:00 PST on the day of the event, with times referenced in Los Angeles time where the ceremony took place.

The show, starting with Beyoncé’s performance at 17:00 PST and concluding around 20:30, produced notable shifts across social platforms, movie databases, and official Oscars properties — though not always in ways tied to the awards themselves.

The On-Stage Incident Drove Social Media Peaks

The most significant traffic movements on social networks occurred when Will Smith approached the stage and confronted Chris Rock at approximately 19:25 PST. Twitter, in particular, recorded sudden growth: DNS requests jumped 32% within minutes of the altercation, climbing further to 51% above pre-incident levels by 20:15 PST, shortly after Smith accepted the Best Actor award and delivered his apology speech. Ceremony traffic for Twitter subsided immediately after the broadcast ended at 20:30.

Earlier in the evening, Twitter also saw a small spike at 18:00 PST, coinciding with Sebastián Yatra’s performance of Dos Oruguitas from Encanto. TikTok exhibited a similar pattern tied to the event. Following a rise during a 18:40 PST commercial break — occurring shortly after Troy Kotsur won Best Supporting Actor for CODA — TikTok traffic increased 20% from 19:20 to 19:30 PST in connection with the incident. The trajectory continued with a 25% gain by 19:40 and peaked at 40% above baseline at 20:15 PST.

Facebook and Instagram operated differently. Neither platform demonstrated significant Oscar-related spikes; instead, both saw traffic fall once the ceremony started, with Facebook declining noticeably after 19:00 PST.

IMDb Correlated with Award Moments, Not Controversy

IMDb.com activity told a different story, tied to the standard rhythm of an awards show. Traffic to the site nearly doubled, increasing 93%, in the ten minutes leading up to the broadcast. A subsequent surge occurred when Ariana DeBose won Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story at 17:23 PST — requests spiked nearly 90% compared with the preceding ten minutes.

Another measurable increase appeared around 19:00 PST when Kenneth Branagh won Best Original Screenplay for Belfast. Additionally, interest in The Eyes of Tammy Faye contributed to a 55% traffic increase when Jessica Chastain received the Best Actress award.

Broadcaster and Official Sites Experienced Heavy Loads

ABC, the official broadcaster, enjoyed elevated traffic well before the show began. Along with the dedicated Oscars.com page (which redirects to abc.com/shows/oscars), traffic ran 200% to 600% higher than baseline levels starting around two hours prior to the ceremony start.

The peak broadcaster traffic arrived at roughly 19:45 PST, minutes after the Smith-Rock confrontation. This interval also included Questlove’s Best Documentary win for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) and the on-stage reunion for The Godfather with Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, and Robert DeNiro.

The official Oscars.org site experienced similar pressure. DNS requests grew 400% during the 16:00-17:00 PST hour prior to the broadcast and held elevated throughout the ceremony. A sharply defined spike materialized at 19:45 PST, when traffic exceeded the preceding ten-minute baseline by approximately 1,300%. That instance coincided with the same post-incident moments that moved ABC traffic. Another spike accompanied the Best Actress announcement just before the event concluded, with the full winners list published on Oscars.org shortly after 20:30 PST.

Movie News Outlets Peaked Post-Show

For entertainment press properties — Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, and E Online — the Oscars week data uses the prior Sunday (March 20) as its baseline mean. Unsurprisingly, Oscar Sunday on March 27 represented the week’s highlight, with DNS requests 833% higher than the strongest days of the preceding week.

The most active period, however, came after the awards concluded. On Monday, March 28, 2022, combined traffic for those outlets reached 1,200% above the previous week’s strongest daily figures, a reflection of post-ceremony news coverage.

Live-Moment Movements

As observed during the Super Bowl LVI telecast, where a Coinbase ad triggered measurable activity, unscripted moments in television broadcasts of major events translate directly into measurable internet traffic. The unexpected can alter how audiences interact with services in near real-time — no streaming service or live-ticket audience required — and DNS trends provide a clear lens for watching those fluctuations occur. Traffic patterns from the event remain publicly viewable via Cloudflare Radar and its associated Twitter account.