An elite group of marketers will pay hefty prices to be associated with the 84th Academy Awards broadcast on February 26th, and reach a mass audience dominated by women. So reports brand intelligence provider Kantar Media, which summarized some key metrics for this year, and historic trends.
“Big-scale, high visibility television events continue to draw large audiences and the Academy Awards comes just a few weeks after the most widely watched Super Bowl in history,” said Jon Swallen, SVP Research at Kantar Media North America. Coverage is still centered around the network TV broadcast, but digital platforms and online content offer more ways to target brand messages at an engaged audience.
The Price of Advertising
The average price of a 30-second commercial in the Academy Awards has increased modestly the past two years but remains firmly below the peak levels achieved between 2006 and 2008.Ads in the 2011 telecast fetched an average $1.55 million per 30 seconds for a total revenue of $74.4 million. Higher pricing is expected in 2012, about $1.70 million per :30 unit.
Spending By Top Advertisers
A small number of blue-chip marketers dominate the rankings of top spenders in the Academy Awards. Last year, 40% of total ad revenue came from three companies: Hyundai, JC Penney and Coca-Cola. Hyundai has been the exclusive auto advertiser since 2009 and will have a major presence again this year. JC Penney has been a continuous sponsor since 2002 and will use this year’s broadcast to promote a major repositioning of the brand. A few other well-known advertisers stand out for their loyalty and longevity. McDonald’s has appeared in the program every year since 1992 and American Express since 1993.
Hyundai and JC Penney will each spend more than $10 million in advertising on the 2012 broadcast. By comparison, a majority of the films nominated for Best Picture (including Descendants and War Horse) spent less than $10 million on advertising to support their theatrical release and generate ticket sales.
First Time Advertisers
Throughout much of the past decade, the Academy Awards had a stable core of perennial sponsors. The low turnover coupled with stiff limits on the total amount of commercial time made it difficult for new marketers to gain entrance to the program.
The ad recession of 2009 led to sponsor withdrawals and a downward drift in audience ratings has further contributed to advertiser defections. This has created an opportunity for other companies to buy ad time. In the 2011 show, 31 percent of the marketers were first-timers. The freshman class of 2011 included Amazon, Best Buy and Living Social.
Low Ad Clutter
The Academy Awards runs against the general trend of stuffing more ad content into TV programming and offers marketers a less cluttered environment. In granting broadcast rights to the program, the Academy limits the amount of commercial time.
Over the past decade, the show has consistently averaged 8-10 minutes per hour of national commercial messages. This includes paid ads plus promotional plugs from the network for its own programming.
The comparable level for the Super Bowl is about 13-14 minutes per hour and for network prime time programming it is typically 14-16 minutes per hour.
TV Ratings Are Eroding, Digital Picks Up Slack
Household audience ratings during the live broadcast of the 2011 Academy Awards were the second smallest in history. Viewing levels have slipped 23 percent in the past decade and 15 percent from just five years ago.
In an effort to attract audience and boost interest, ABC has been integrating online elements into its coverage. The 2011 show was streamed live, providing expanded coverage of red carpet activities, press room interviews with winners and other backstage activities. Social media and mobile applications were also utilized to help make the event more immersive and appealing to younger audiences.
Although the Academy Awards is predominately a TV advertising event, there are a range of digital marketing programs that capitalize on the event and target Oscar enthusiasts.
ABC is the most active player, using digital media to generate audiences for both its TV and online productions which it can then monetize through advertising sales. ABC places rich media and display ads on targeted web sites in the 3-4 weeks leading up to the Academy Awards to promote and build interest in the TV broadcast. The network also executes a paid search ad campaign to direct traffic to the Oscars.com web site, which it operates. Not surprisingly, the primary root keywords it buys are “Oscars” and “Academy Awards”.
ABC sells a variety of display ad formats on Oscars.com and some of the companies buying spots in the TV broadcast also purchase digital ads on the web site to extend and amplify their offline campaign. In 2011, Hyundai was the top spending advertiser on both the ABC telecast and the Oscars.com site.
Other web publishers create content around the Academy Awards which helps support their ad sales efforts. For sites that cover the entertainment and celebrity industry, popular approaches include announcements of the nominations, predictions and fan voting for winners, red carpet activities, critiques of celebrity fashion, and coverage of post-Oscar parties. Food-oriented web sites have gotten into the game with articles on hosting an Oscar-themed party at home and recipe ideas.
