ABC, the Walt Disney network which telecasts the Oscar, is asking for more than $2.1 million for its remaining 30-second ads in its February, 2017, broadcast.
One media buyer said the network was recently willing to do a deal with a $2 million price tag.
In recent years, 30-second spots in the show have gone for anywhere between $1.7 million and $2.2 million.
ABC’s 2016 Oscars broadcast captured about 34.4 million viewers, a 7% slump from the 2015 event, which reached nearly 37.3 million. Both broadcasts marked relative lows for the event.
The 2016 broadcast was controversial due to lack of non-white nominees, and defined by best-picture candidates that were smaller indies, like Room.
The TV world has been affected by rise of mobile devices, streaming video and on-demand behavior, forcing advertisers to aggregate consumers across multiple streams of single TV program.
Like the Super Bowl, TV’s biggest annual broadcast, when the Oscars are concerned, viewers tend to watch them live, can’t zap past the ads, and turn to social media during the broadcast to register their approval or disenchantment
ABC’s 2015 Oscars broadcast earned about $110 million in ad spending, according to Kantar, 16% increase from the previous year.
The average cost of a 30-second spot in the most recent broadcast grew 4% to about $1.78 million, according to data from Standard Media Index, compared with $1.71 million in 2015.
ABC is also working with advertisers to capture the digital world, including the popular instant-messaging app Snapchat. The network has been seeking between $500,000 and $1.5 million for ads placed in digital extensions of the linear broadcast. For the Oscars’ pre-show, commercials cost between $300,000 to $500,000.
The Oscars have experienced a viewership crunch in recent years–neither the 2016 host, Chris Rock, nor last year’s emcee, Neil Patrick Harris, has been successful.
In recent years, several awards programs have seen ratings declines. CBS’ February broadcast of the Grammys saw viewership slipped to 24.95 million, compared with 25.3 million viewers in the previous year. The 2106 show aired on a Monday, not the event’s usual night
Even so, audiences have remained substantial. TV’s biggest regular primetime broadcasts get between 13 million and 15 million viewers overall, and between 4 million and 7 million viewers between 18 and 49, the most desired demographic by advertisers.
Oscar ratings often fluctuate each year depending on the mix of nominees. When the top movies nominated are arty films aimed at older audiences, viewership tends to slump. When the nominees for best films are blockbusters, the ratings increase. In 1998, approximately 55 million viewers tuned in to see the crowd-pleasing “Titanic” win “Best Picture.” Oscar ratings hit a new low in 2008, when just 32 million tuned in to see “No Country For Old Men” win the big prize, down from about 38.9 million the year before.
The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences limits the amount of advertising time allowed in the awards broadcast, meaning the commercials have a better chance of standing apart from the pack. In 2015, the Oscars broadcast on ABC contained about 29 minutes’ and 45 seconds of ads, according to Kantar, compared with 27 minutes in 2014.
In 2015, the Golden Globes contained about 36 minutes of advertising and the Grammys contained about 40 minutes and 30 seconds.
.
