It was tough to not feel bad for The Shape Of Water producer J. Miles Dale (who had an early gig as the line producer of Friday The 13th: The Series) basically not be allowed to speak when he won the Oscar for Best Picture. Hey, it was probably only the highpoint of his entire career but shut...
I said it in the Oscar thread but audience fragmentation basically guarantees that it was the lowest (until next year when it's lower and the year after that, etc.).
They acknowledge it in the article but time is required to pick the 'real' best picture. That's why time is the real test of a movie and not the Academy Award (though I have fun discussing the Oscars).
I'll check out the list of winners but I'm not going to specifically watch the show. At most, I'll tune in around 11:30 to see the Best Picture announcement. If I want to see a winner's speech, I'll look at it online tomorrow morning.