Will 82nd Annual Academy Awards Drive More Viewers?
Declining viewership of the Oscars over the past few years — with only a slight uptick in ratings in 2009 — has led the Academy Awards to change it up this year. Some alterations implemented by the show’s producers, as well as controversial news surrounding some of the nominees, have led to increased exposure in the media.
Let’s take a look at how some of these changes have complemented the Academy’s PR and media initiatives, and also enhanced its word-of-mouth marketing surrounding Sunday night’s show.
The News: Ten Best Picture Nominees
Back in June, the Academy Awards announced that instead of the traditional five Best Picture nominees, it would be bumped up to ten.
What It Means: While the Academy says it made the decision so more films could be noticed, in reality it’s all about the ratings. Building up the hype surrounding so many movies puts the Academy in a good position come Sunday night on ABC. After all, if you’ve seen a particular film, you’re more likely to tune in to see whether it will win. When “Titanic” took home the Best Picture Oscar in 1998, for example, more than 57 million people watched.
The News: The 82nd Academy Awards Will Have Two Hosts
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will serve as co-hosts for this year’s Academy Awards. The last time the Oscars featured more than one host was back in 1987 when Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Paul Hogen hosted it. According to Robert Dougherty’s Associated Content article, “the two hosts of the 2010 Oscars have certainly added intrigue to an otherwise predictable Oscar night. There is a curiosity factor for certain…”
What It Means: These two hosts are sure to draw in viewers. The fact that it hasn’t been done since 1987 adds a certain appeal, and supports the idea that double the nominees (for Best Picture) requires double the hosts. Advertising and marketing campaigns have followed suit, boasting the phrase, “You’ve Never Seen Oscar Like This.”
The News: “Aggressive Campaigner” Punished
On March 2, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that one of the four producers for “The Hurt Locker” — Nicolas Chartier — would be denied admission to the Kodak Theater as a repercussion for violating Academy rules that stipulate a nominee cannot cast “a negative or derogatory light on a competing film.” After specifically disparaging a contending film, “Avatar”, Chartier likewise encouraged Academy voters to vote for “The Hurt Locker.”
What It Means: While this news potentially cast a negative light on “The Hurt Locker”, with one celebrity blogger even indicating that it was such “snobbery” that turns her off to the Oscars, it in fact seemed to do quite the opposite. The news got people talking, added an element of controversy to the Academy Awards and supported the goal to raise awareness about the nominated films. Chartier’s apology letter likewise garnered media attention, saying that his “naivety, ignorance of the rules and plain stupidity” led him to write to the Academy members.
Previous Numbers, Projected Numbers
TvbytheNumbers.com generated a chart of Academy Award viewership, based on Nielsen Media Research.
This year, the Academy Awards are projected to be bigger than previous years. What’s your projection of viewership tonight? Will it exceed 41 million, which is an approximately 14 percent increase from last year (the increase boasted for this year’s Golden Globes)?
Will you (or did you) tune in Sunday night? If so, let us know what motivated you to watch!
Lauren is a Senior Account Executive at Walker Sands Communications. She has a background in both tech PR and print journalism, giving her valuable insight into what a client desires, and what a journalist most appreciates.
Looks like your prediction was right. Initial forecasts have the ratings up significantly from last year. This article is giving credit to Avatar as a popular film competing for Best Picture, but I imagine the other factors played a part as well.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/preliminary-report-shows-big-oscar-ratings-jump-2010-03-08?reflink=MW_news_stmp
Nice call! According to Entertainment Weekly:
“In addition to being the most-watched Oscars in five years, it was also the broadcast networks’ biggest show for the week ending March 7. The 82nd Annual Academy Awards drew 41.7 million viewers, besting the second place program—which was actually the Oscar red carpet pre-show—by more than 16 million viewers. And usual juggernaut America Idol on Fox landed a rather distant third and fourth, pulling 23.6 million and 23.5 million viewers for its Wednesday and Tuesday night episodes, respectively.”
http://news-briefs.ew.com/2010/03/09/oscars-wins-weeks-ratings/
I was personally pretty annoyed by the increase to ten nominees for best picture but it really does seem like a smart PR move on their part. I’m not so sure about the two hosts, I didn’t watch so I can’t really comment.
The Hurt Locker “scandal” also worked out well for the Academy’s PR. I wonder if they had that in mind when they banned the producer. I remember seeing headlines about it for a couple days on yahoo, google, reddit, etc. Anyways, great post and nice avatar (not the movie). =)