No Country for Old Men Consumers’ Choice for Best Picture Oscar

Americans think that No Country for Old Men should receive the Best Picture Oscar, according to a BrandIntel research report that analyzes online consumer discussion share and sentiment expressed in blogs, discussion forums and other social media outlets, reports MarketingCharts.

The report measures audience sentiment for this year’s Academy Award Best Picture nominees, There Will be Blood, Juno, Atonement and Michael Clayton, in addition to No Country.

The report, “2008 Best Picture: Audience Engagement Analysis,” captures consumer-created online data from January 22 to February 4. View chart of online buzz about Best Picture.

Among other key findings:

• Based on audience opinion, No Country for Old Men is lauded for its characters, cast (especially Javier Bardem) and originality, as well as its quiet simplicity and tension.
• While There Will Be Blood generated a significant amount of discussion at very positive levels, due in part to discussion associated with Daniel Day Lewis, consumers believe that the film will finish a distant second to No Country.
• Despite high sentiment for Juno among smaller audience groups, consumers do not perceive the film to be a legitimate contender for the award, due to a historical lack of success for “lighter” films in the Best Picture category.

“While it’s a fact that the Academy is solely responsible for selecting Oscar winners, year-over-year we continue to see audiences weigh in on who they believe should be honored,” said Alan Dean, VP of research at BrandIntel. “As such, the internet has provided consumers with a viable outlet to voice their opinions on not only who is deserving of an Oscar and other awards, but their sentiment regarding movies in general.”

“This, in turn, creates a surplus of unscripted and unaided research data that can prove extremely valuable to movie executives, as it provides actionable insight into consumer beliefs around various elements of a film - cast, plot, soundtrack, etc. - which can be leveraged to optimize a movie’s success, including how it is marketed as an Oscar nominee.”

About the study: BrandIntel tracked more than 39 million raw search results on the internet but refined those results through technological filters and human analysis to utilize only the highest quality data - totaling more than 2,000 consumer mentions focusing on Best Picture Oscar nominees.