Ad Sales Picture Improves for This Year’s Oscars

With less than a week to go before Hollywood fêtes itself with the red carpet and gold statuettes, ABC’s ad sales team has cause to throw a celebration of its own: The network’s Academy Awards broadcast is all but sold out.Per media buyer estimates, ABC heads into its 35th consecutive Oscars telecast with two or three remaining avails, as a roster of returning sponsors and an improving economy have aided the sales process. The three top spenders of a year ago (Hyundai, Coca-Cola and JCPenney) are back in the limelight, reversing a micro-trend that saw perennial high rollers General Motors and L’Oréal drop out of the Academy Awards altogether. Pricing for time in the 82nd Academy Awards is trending higher than last year’s event, when ad rates fell. ABC has written deals at $1.4 million to $1.5 million per spot, versus $1.3 million last year, sources said.Hyundai motors into the March 7 broadcast as the exclusive automotive sponsor, buying seven ads that will air during the program and in one pre-show spot. It’s a return engagement for the South Korean automaker, which in 2009 signed a three-year option with ABC that grants it the right of first refusal.Along with securing the greatest chunk of airtime in this year’s Oscars broadcast, Hyundai may also boast the most interesting back story. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences effectively prohibits sponsors from running in-show creative featuring any of the night’s nominees or presenters, which put Hyundai in a bit of a pickle. Jeff Bridges, who has been the carmaker’s voice-over talent for the better part of the last three years, also happens to be a Best Actor nominee. In order to comply with the Academy’s criteria, Hyundai decided to shoot seven spots with other A-list voiceover talent. Bridges suggested a short list of colleagues, and last week Hyundai finished recording the final ad, with an assist from actress Kim Basinger. Other stars filling in for Bridges are Richard Dreyfuss, David Duchovny, Catherine Keener, Michael Madsen, Mandy Patinkin and Martin Sheen.According to Chris Perry, director of marketing communications for Hyundai, the Oscars buy focuses on the 2011 Sonata, a mid-sized sedan poised to take on Toyota’s Camry and the Honda Accord. Of the eight spots that will air during the Academy Awards, six will be devoted to the Sonata, while the remaining two will tout the Genesis coupe. “Our presence in the Academy Awards continues our ‘Big Voices in Big Places’ mantra that we started delivering on earlier this year,” Perry said. “We started with the Super Bowl, we’re back for our second Oscars and you’re going to see a lot of us in the [FIFA] World Cup.”Also returning for an encore is Coca-Cola, which has been the exclusive beverage sponsor of the Academy Awards since 2006. The soft drink giant is paring down its screen time from a year ago, buying two minutes and 30 seconds of inventory, versus four minutes in the 2009 show. On tap are a new 60-second spot for Diet Coke, two :30s for the flagship brand and a pair of 15-second spots from the “Heart Truth” campaign. The latter were developed in partnership with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to raise awareness about heart disease in women.Retailer JCPenney made the third largest investment in last year’s Oscars, spending an estimated $9.2 million on seven :30s. This year, the company has snapped up six minutes of airtime, including a spot for its Cindy Crawford home furnishings line. JCPenney is using the broadcast to introduce a new tagline (“New look. New day. Who knew.”), said CMO Mike Boylson. “It’s a great catalyst...and a huge venue,” Boylson said. “The Academy Awards are all about what’s culturally relevant, what’s in style, so it’s a very proper place for us to launch our whole spring style message.”ABC last year soldiered on sans a major beauty brand, as L’Oréal Paris bowed out four months before the telecast, taking with it approximately $11.8 million in advertising. L’Oréal remains a no-show in 2010, and while the category remains underrepresented, ABC has made up for the loss with a mix of other returnees. Microsoft and McDonald’s are back and 2009 newbie Sprint is prepping a sequel. Other confirmed clients include Ameriprise Financial, Kimberly-Clark, Samsung Electronics and Hershey’s and at least three film studios, including Walt Disney Pictures.If recent trends are anything to go by––Super Bowl XLIV set an all-time ratings record, and the Grammys and Golden Globes posted significant ratings gains––Sunday’s Academy Awards should outdeliver last year’s show (36.9 million viewers, the third lowest turnout in Oscars history). “Big-event TV still resonates with viewers,” said Todd Gordon, svp, director national broadcast at Interpublic’s Initiative. “It provides a shared community experience that is increasingly harder to find anywhere else.”

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Ad Sales Picture Improves for This Year’s Oscars

Anthony Crupi

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Anthony Crupi