Historical Advertising Data Showcases Biggest Spenders, Ad Pricing Trends and Smaller Viewing Audiences

New York, NY, February 16, 2010 – With the Super Bowl in the history books and the Winter Olympics underway, the TV industry is looking towards the next high-profile advertising event: the Academy Awards on March 7, 2010.

Sometimes referred to in advertising circles as “the Super Bowl for women”, the event continues to be a marquee franchise for advertisers even though recent years have seen more glitter from the celebrities’ evening gowns than the TV audience ratings. Kantar Media has once again searched its extensive database to compile key figures and trends on the past ten years of Academy Awards advertising.

“With the ratings success of the Super Bowl, CBS selling out its inventory of ads and the general ongoing buzz surrounding the commercials that were broadcast, there is a growing sense that other high profile events early in 2010 such as the Winter Olympics and the Academy Awards could help to set a very positive pace and environment for advertising as the year moves along,” says Mark Nesbitt, president of Kantar Media’s Intelligence sector. “While the Academy Awards broadcast did face some challenges in recent years, there is great anticipation for this year’s event, especially in light of the Academy’s decision to expand the Best Picture category to attract a broader audience.”

The Price of Advertising In The Academy Awards
After three consecutive years of stable ad costs and revenue, average pricing for the 2009 Academy Awards tumbled sharply to just over $1.3 million for a :30 unit. Total revenue fell 16 percent, to $68.0 million. Ad sales efforts were hit by the double whammy of a deepening recession that caused marketers to slash their ad budgets and the prospect of an actor’s strike that could have kept many celebrities away from the ceremony and decimated TV ratings. While the strike threat was resolved a month before the event, the deteriorating economy proved less surmountable.

ACADEMY AWARDS:
ADVERTISING RATES AND REVENUE: 2000-2009

Source: Kantar Media

Top Ad Categories
The Academy Awards program has earned $711.2 million of ad revenue during the past ten years. The top categories have been Financial Services, Beverages and Automotive. One-half of the spending has come from these three categories.

TOP ADVERTISING CATEGORIES IN THE ACADEMY AWARDS
2000-2009

Source: Kantar Media

Last year featured the first-ever advertising from movie studios after the Academy removed a long-standing ban. Disney and Paramount each bought one spot to plug an upcoming theatrical release.

While motion picture ads in a program celebrating the achievements of the movie industry and viewed by 30-40 million movie fans may appear to be a match made in heaven, the category is destined to only have a modest presence in the show because of stiff restrictions the Academy has placed on the number, length and content of studio messages.

From a marketer’s perspective, the most limiting rule is the requirement that an advertised film cannot open before the last weekend of April. The long lead time is unattractive for standard marketing campaigns that launch 3-5 weeks before the release date. There are few big releases scheduled in April-May with a target audience that includes upscale women, which is the profile of the Oscars viewers. The viewing demographics also don’t mesh well with many of the wide-release summer movies that are scheduled to be in theaters after Memorial Day.

Top Advertisers
Throughout much of the past decade, the Academy Awards had a stable core of blue-chip advertisers that were perennial sponsors and contributed a majority of the ad revenue. Among these were General Motors, L’Oreal, American Express, and JC Penney. However, in 2009 GM and L’Oreal dropped out completely in cost-cutting moves. Other marketers eventually stepped in but the top advertiser rankings underwent a major reshuffling with Hyundai at the top of the 2009 leader board in its Academy Awards debut.

TOP ADVERTISERS IN THE ACADEMY AWARDS
2009 vs. 2008

Source: Kantar Media

Prior to the withdrawal of GM and L’Oreal, the last big shake-up occurred in 2006 when Coca-Cola took over the beverage category sponsorship from Pepsi.

First-Time Advertisers
Historically, the low turnover rate among major sponsors coupled with stiff limits on the total amount of commercial inventory in the broadcast has made it difficult for new marketers to gain entrance into the event. The 2009 ceremony went against type as the weak economy led to sponsors withdrawals and created a rare opportunity for other companies to buy in. One-third of the marketers in 2009 were first-timers, the highest level since 2002.

NUMBER OF ADVERTISERS IN THE ACADEMY AWARDS

Source: Kantar Media
 
The 2009 newbies were Bristol-Myers Squib; Hyundai; Sprint Nextel; Techtronics (Hoover Appliances); Viacom; and Whirlpool.

Ad Clutter In The Academy Awards
In an era where the trend is toward greater amounts of TV advertising time, the Academy Awards stands out for the uncluttered environment it offers marketers.

The total volume of network ad time in the 3+ hour broadcast has averaged 32 minutes over the past ten years. This includes paid ads plus promotional plugs from the network for its own programming. It works out to 8-10 minutes per hour of national commercial messages. The comparable figure for the Super Bowl is about 13-14 minutes per hour and for a typical hour of prime time network programming it is 14-16 minutes.

Network Ad Time (mm:ss)  In The Academy Awards

Source: Kantar Media

TV Ratings For The Academy Awards: Trending Downward
Audience ratings for the 2009 Academy Awards were up from 2008 but the telecast still finished as the third lowest-rated broadcast in its televised history. Over the past decade, household ratings have plummeted 33 percent. By comparison, Super Bowl ratings have fallen less than 5 percent over the same period.

In any given year, viewer interest in the awards ceremony may rise or fall based on the slate of nominees for major awards, their box office performance and the buzz surrounding them. The Academy’s decision to expand the Best Picture category to ten nominations and promote the upcoming ceremony via social media reflect an effort to broaden the event’s audience appeal.

Source: Kantar Media analysis of Nielsen Media Research data

About Kantar Media
Established in more than in 50 countries, Kantar Media enables exploration of multimedia momentum through analysis of print, radio, TV, internet, social media, and outdoors worldwide. Kantar Media offers a full range of media insights and audience measurement services through its global business sectors – Intelligence, Audiences and TGI & Custom.   Combining the deepest expertise in the industry, Kantar Media tracks more than 3 million brands and delivers insights to more than 22,000 customers around the world.  (www.KantarMediaNA.com).

About Kantar
Kantar is one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 95 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group’s services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies.

For further information, please visit us at www.Kantar.com