• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 16, 2007

ABC Thursday wrapped up sales for its coverage of this year's Oscar telecast, fetching more than $1.6 million per 30-second spot for what traditionally is the second most expensive reoccurring network TV ad property of the year. Often referred to as the "Super Bowl for women," because of its high composition of female viewers, for its higher demand among advertisers trying to reach them, ABC has sold time to an impressive list of Oscar-worthy performers, including: AT&T, Bank of America, Careerbuilder.com, Coca-Cola, Unilever's Dove, General Motors, JCPenney, Kodak, L'Oreal, Masterfoods, MasterCard, McDonald's and Microsoft.

The 79th Annual Academy Awards telecast will air Sunday, Feb. 25 on ABC and will be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.

The Oscar's comparison to the Super Bowl is an apt one. It has been the top-rated entertainment special of the year, every year since modern Nielsen numbers have been tracking it. Last year's telecast was viewed by an average audience of nearly 39 million viewers, and posted a 13.9 rating and 33 share among Adults 18-49, reaching 76.6 million TV viewers nationwide.

While ABC executives have not disclosed a complete list of Oscar advertisers, the telecast typically is used the same way as the Super Bowl: to break new high-profile, and attention-getting advertising campaigns that generate buzz and plenty of press coverage.

ABC execs also do not comment on the pricing of the event, but it is believed to be approaching the $2 million per 30-second commercial mark. According to a ten-year trend analysis released Thursday by TNS Media Intelligence, the average price per :30 in the Oscars has more than doubled over the past decade rising to $1.6 million in 2006, up from $700,000 in 1995.

It's also a perennial event for some big marketers. According to the TNS MI report, the top five Oscar advertisers over the past 12 years have invested $314 million on media buys on the program, accounting for 47percent of total network ad spending in the telecast. TNS MI also found that 77% of that spending came from advertisers who bought time in the show the prior year.

By comparison, the retention rates for other big events such as the Super Bowl and the World Series have been 62% and 67%, respectively.