Remember the old days of getting round the TV with your family, turning on the TV and watching the Academy Awards? You might have organised a fancy dress party where everyone comes as their favourite 1930s Hollywood character from the golden era.
Or perhaps you had a tipping competition for who would win Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Actor?
For decades, awards shows provided a front-row seat to TV viewers’ favourite performers.
But over the past year, awards shows struggled to gain eyeballs even though people were stuck at home watching countless hours of Hollywood content.
Both the CBS telecast of the 63rd Grammy Awards (9.2 million viewers on March 14) and NBC’s presentation of the 93rd Golden Globe Awards (6.9 million viewers on Feb. 28) dropped more than 50% from 2020 levels.
That’s bad news for awards shows and especially for the mother of all awards shows – the Oscars.
If the ratings of TV awards shows don’t bounce back after pandemic restrictions ease, the events will be an expensive problem for the networks carrying them.
In Australia, the TV industry’s Logie awards is essentially propped up by government funds and tourism bodies.
Despite the declining ratings, TV networks thus far persist with the shows.
The reason is simple, if not a bit demoralising for the TV industry: Even with mediocre ratings, these major events are still among the most-watched of any programming on linear TV, outside of sports.
And just like the TV industry, the ad industry is scrambling too.
US broadcaster ABC has sold out of commercial time in the telecast, with sales in part driven by a huge number of first time Oscars advertisers.
Oscars advertisers include: Google, General Motors, Rolex, Verizon, AARP, Adidas International, Apple, Corona, Eli Lilly, Expedia, GSK, Honda, Kellogg, Keurig, Mars, Procter & Gamble, Power to the Patient, and Subway, among others.
For them, the Oscars provide one of the only platforms to connect their brand to luxury and everything Hollywood glamour represents.
But the question is – how much lower can the ratings go before advertisers see no value. Increasingly, advertisers are looking for “return on investment” over “brand awareness”. That’s why cheesy jingles have been replaced by targeted commercials focusing on part of the brand’s target market.
The Oscars, and other awards shows, are big and bold, but are they still relevant? With the public, less so, but with paying advertisers, they are still providing bang for their buck.
