It worked. Over 41 million people watched the telecast on ABC, a 14 percent increase from the year before, according to preliminary ratings data from Nielsen Media Research. It was the largest Oscar audience since 2005, when 42 million people watched “Million Dollar Baby” win the top award.

But the trophy winners were largely in sharp contrast to the broadcast’s big-tent ambitions, revealing an Academy with a split personality. Given the impressive ratings bump, some agents and producers predicted that the split would remain: it was awards and a show — not an awards show.

Tom Sherak, the Academy’s president, said the Oscars had always had two faces, one pointed toward the industry and one toward the public. “Two different things have to happen on that night, and it isn’t easy to do,” Mr. Sherak said in a telephone interview on Monday.

“It isn’t the public who votes, it’s the public who cheers,” he continued, referring to the ceremony’s function as entertainment. As for the awards themselves, Mr. Sherak said: “I think the Academy voters did what they do. You and I might disagree with one thing or another. But they did what they needed to do.”

Missing for many industry insiders was the organic sense of drama that came with past shows in which a popular film like “Titanic” or “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” built to a climax by picking up prize after prize — or when “The Aviator” built momentum through the minor awards in 2005, only to see the major Oscars slip away as "Million Dollar Baby" claimed the top prize. In those shows the awards actually were the entertainment.

By contrast, Sunday’s entertainment value was in many ways grafted on in a process that could seem vaguely dishonest at times. If “Up in the Air” was so worthy of monologue attention, why was it snubbed in all six categories in which it was nominated?

Spotlighting the incongruence, “The Hurt Locker,” the big winner with six trophies including best picture, was also one of the least-watched films in its theatrical run to ever win the top prize. It sold about $14.7 million in tickets in North America and about $6.7 million overseas. On its opening weekend in two theaters in New York, its screenwriter, Mark Boal — now an Oscar winner — stood on street corners with his teenage nephew handing out free tickets to passersby with the idea that if they could stack the house, perhaps the theater owners would book it for another week.

Meanwhile, “Avatar,” the 20th Century Fox picture that has sold over $2.5 billion in tickets at the global box office, was shut out of the top categories, winning three awards in the more technical races. (It had nine nominations going in, a tie with the independently financed “Hurt Locker.”) “Inglourious Basterds,” a substantial hit from the Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures, had eight nominations, but left with one win, a supporting actor statuette for Christoph Waltz.