News
Slumping ad sales hurt Oscars
Jan. 20, 2009 – Ad rates for the Oscar telecast are falling, amid the sour economy and threat of actors strike, so it’s no surprise that the movie academy lifted a ban on movie ads last year. Advertising Age reports that ABC Television's quoted price for a 30-second Oscar commercial is $1.4 million, down from $1.7 million a year ago.
Inclusion of movie ads will help make up loss of long-time Academy Award advertisers such as General Motors. The Oscars audience tilts to females – the glamorous clothes of stars is a magnet.
Last year, 32 million viewers viewed the telecast, down from 39.9 million in 2007. In general, when broad appeal movies dominate the Best Picture nominees, audience levels are highest, as evidenced of high ratings when Titanic won.
The Ad Age story by Claude Brodesser-Akner notes when the edict came down in October that movie ads could be in the telecast, there were some restrictions imposed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. “Studios would not be allowed to run more than one spot; advertise an entire slate of films; advertise sequels to any of the previous year's best-picture, best-animated-feature or best-documentary Oscar nominees; include any text or spoken reference to the Academy Awards; or advertise any film opening earlier than the last Friday in April,” notes the article.
“Now that the economic trade winds have shifted into an outright squall, however, one of those guidelines is being jettisoned,” notes Ad Age. “Insiders say the academy has dropped its insistence that an advertised film must open after the telecast.”
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