ABC Averages $1.7 million for Oscar Ads[/b]
By Steve Gorman - Reuters - 24/2/2006
The ABC network, flush from its blockbuster Super Bowl telecast, is reaping yet another bonanza from its upcoming Oscar show, traditionally one of the most watched events of the year on U.S. television.
The Walt Disney Co.-owned network has sold its entire advertising inventory for the March 5 Academy Awards broadcast for an average of $1.7 million per 30-second spot, up from $1.6 million last year, an ABC source said on Friday.
With an allotment of about 48 commercial spots during the Oscar show, that would come to nearly $82 million for the entire three-hour telecast.
By comparison, ABC averaged $2.5 million for each 30-second ad sold for the February 8 broadcast of the Super Bowl, which drew more than 90 million viewers to rank as the most watched U.S. TV program in 10 years.
The Oscar ad hike comes even though the audience of 41 million who tuned in for last year's telecast, capped by the triumph of boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby," was down 5 percent from 2004, when "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" was the big winner.
Nielsen ratings for the Academy Awards tend to rise and fall according to the commercial popularity of the films in contention.
This year, as in 2005, the nominees for the film industry's highest honors are dominated by relatively small-scale movies that drew modest audiences, such as "Brokeback Mountain" and "Crash," as opposed to box office blockbusters like "Lord of the Rings" or "Titanic."
But ABC and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is counting on a ratings boost from the new Oscar host, popular comic and Comedy Central star Jon Stewart.
Aside from generally ranking as the second biggest night on television after the Super Bowl, the Oscars tend to draw a higher-than-usual quotient of upscale viewers, particularly among those who normally watch little TV.
This makes the Oscar audience especially attractive to advertisers.
An ABC spokeswoman said the majority of this year's Oscar advertisers are returning sponsors, and more than half the ads will launch new commercial campaigns.
Among the brands making an appearance on the Oscar show this year will be American Express, Coca-Cola Co., General Motors Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., State Farm insurance and the McDonald's fast-food chain.
Conspicuously absent are any film studios, which Academy rules bar from advertising on the Oscars.
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