Will Smith Drew 25 Times More Searches Than Oscar-Winner ‘CODA’ After Chris Rock Slap
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital EditorOrdinarily on an Oscars Sunday, the peak interest in Hollywood’s big awards show is around the top winners.
But this year was… different.According to data from Google, in the 11 p.m. ET hour on March 27, Will Smith was the subject of 25 times more internet searches than “CODA,” Apple’s groundbreaking film that became the first movie from a streaming service to win the best picture Oscar (see chart below).Google searches for Smith peaked after the actor smacked comedian Chris Rock during ABC’s Oscars telecast — responding to Rock’s impromptu joke about Jada Pinkett Smith — followed minutes later by Smith winning the Oscars actor trophy for his turn in “King Richard.” Searches for “Chris Rock” in that hour indexed at 54, while those for “CODA” came in at 4.
In the 10 p.m. ET hour Sunday, which encompassed the slap, the weighted search score for Will Smith was 54; Chris Rock was 35; and “CODA” was 1.The data is shown over a seven-day time period, measuring web searches worldwide.
The Google Trends data represents search interest weighted relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time.
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