Oscar ads just $1 million less than Super Bowl ads - Oscar Buzz

As we near the February 2nd Anne Hathaway-hosted Oscar Nominations announcement meeting (which this blogger really should have been able to attend and AMPAS Leslie Unger should pay attention here), ad execs are looking to TV ratings for it as the big key to how well Oscar ads will perform this year. In 2010, and for the first time in recent memory, 2010 Super Bowl ads are just about $1 million greater than Oscar ads.

Because of the massive economic downturn, Super Bowl ads once priced at $3 million are now going for only $2.5 million; Oscar ads that could have closed the gap to less than $1 million are actually under-priced at $1.3 million, according to AdAge.com's Brian Steinberg.

Last year's Oscar telecast cost advertisers around $1.4 million for a 30-second ad, down significantly from 2008, when a 30-second spot commanded as much as $1.82 million...

And Steinberg reports that price is about the same this year. There are two factors: first, Oscar ratings have been horrible, with a near-decade-long drop that stopped last year because of the anticipated buzz surrounding The Dark Knight after the death of Heath Leadger, who was nominated for and won Oscar Best Supporting Actor for his roll as "The Joker". Second, the economy itself.

Oscar observers are counting on the fact that the Best Picture race will consists of ten movies, and not five, and now the winner will be selected with Preference voting.

To the extent AMPAS can communicate that this year's Best Picture competition is really a race, and it's not one already decided by Avatar's Golden Globe Best Picture win, Oscar ratings will go up.

The key is not the ratings for the February 2nd Anne Hathaway-hosted Oscar Nominations announcement meeting, but the buzz after it, including Twitter.

That's something Leslie Unger's staff must track.

Stay tuned.