Disney Sells Out Oscar Ads, Getting $2 Million-Plus Per Spot

The 93rd Oscars will take place two months later than planned, during a pandemic that has seen TV award shows lose more than half their normally robust audiences. But Disney still managed to sell out its Oscars advertising inventory ahead of the April 25 ceremony on ABC, bringing back all of last year’s top-tier “proud sponsors” and securing an average of $2-$2.2 million per 30-second spot, on par with last year’s rates. The Disney ad sales team incorporated the “Bring Your Movie Love” theme of this year’s ceremony, rolling out a new format in which talent from three upcoming theatrical releases will talk about their favorite movie theater experiences during the telecast, which will transition into an ad pod that begins with an exclusive trailer for their upcoming movie in the A position. Ariana DeBose, who plays Anita in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming adaptation of West Side Story from 20th Century Studios. Lin-Manuel Miranda will throw to a trailer for his upcoming Warner Bros. film, In the Heights. And Questlove, the telecast’s musical director, will talk about his documentary Summer of Soul, from Searchlight Pictures. The format reinforces the ceremony’s creative approach—"to present an awards show as a movie,” and should get viewers excited about returning to in-person moviegoing, Jerry Daniello, svp, entertainment brand solutions, Disney Ad Sales, said. Those trailers will run from between 30 to 90 seconds each. While several perennial Super Bowl partners sat out this year’s game, ABC has brought back all four of its last year’s “proud sponsors” from last year: General Motors, Google, Rolex and Verizon. This year’s “participating sponsors” include AARP, Accenture, Adidas International, Airbnb, Apartments.com, Apple, Corona, Disney+, Eli Lilly, Expedia, FreshPet, FX, Grey Goose/Bacardi, GSK, Honda, Kellogg, Keurig/Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar, Mars, P&G, Power to the Patient, Searchlight, Starbucks, Subway, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Half of the deals for the 2020’s Oscars were closed during the previous year’s upfront, but given the uncertainty last summer over whether the 2021 ceremony would even take place, far fewer deals were secured in the 2020-21 upfront. Because of the pandemic, the eligibility window for this year’s Oscars was extended by two months, and the ceremony was postponed from February until April. The delay “gave us more time to work with the creative team behind this year’s show,” Daniello said. Cadillac will use the ceremony to showcase its first electric crossover vehicle, Lyriq, in a spot introduced by Regina King, who also appeared in Cadillac’s Oscar spots last year. Verizon will spotlight its 5G technology via behind the scenes access to various areas of the Oscar ceremony. While the Oscars have featured isolated pods in recent years with Marriott Bonvoy and Rolex, that was not feasible this year with the tight Covid-19 restrictions on site, which require longer breaks in between segments. A $150 million ad revenue haul last year Last year’s Oscars ceremony generated an estimated $150 million in ad revenue for ABC ($129 million for the awards ceremony, and $21 million for ABC’s red carpet pre-show), with 30-second spots averaging $2.15 million, according to Kantar. Oscar Sunday usually generates more ad revenue for the network than any other day of the year. Cadillac was once again the top advertiser in last year’s Oscars, with an estimated $17.2 million in ad spend, followed by Verizon, with $12.9 million, according to Kantar. Disney still was able to secure $2-$2.2 million per spot in this year’s ceremony, despite the fact that other award shows ratings have plummeted to record lows during the pandemic. Last month, the Grammy audience fell to just 8.8 million total viewers, a 53% drop from the 2020 audience of 18.7 million. And February’s Golden Globes ceremony on NBC saw just 6.9 million viewers tune in, a 62% drop from the 2020 telecast. Those ratings trends don’t bode well for the Oscars, which drew 23.6 million viewers last year, and a 5.3 rating in the adults 18-49 demo, both record lows. In this year’s Oscar race, Netflix leads the pack with a record 35 nominations for its titles—the most of any distributor or service. Disney+ and Apple TV+ also received their first-ever Oscar nominations this year. The Academy Awards will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre and Union Station in Los Angeles, and several international locations via satellite.

Programming & Performance

Disney Sells Out Oscar Ads, Securing More Than $2 Million Per 30-Second Spot

In new format, on-air talent will throw to spots for 3 new movie trailers

Jason Lynch

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Jason Lynch