• New York Post, Tuesday, February 17, 2009 10:01 AM

A weak economy and fear of a backlash against big spenders has prompted several longtime sponsors of the Academy Awards to scale back or bow out of the show entirely.

Last year, L'Oreal and Coke each ran eight spots, followed by General Motors and JC Penney with five spots each. This year, L'Oreal and GM will forgo Sunday's broadcast. American Express, a sponsor for 15 straight years, is slated to run only a single spot. This slack in demand has led ABC to reportedly cut the price of a single 30-second spot to $1.4 million, down from as much as $1.8 million last year. Insiders say prices so far have ranged between $1.4 million and $1.7 million.

ABC could see a 21% drop in total ad revenue from the Oscars compared to last year, according to a new report from TNS. This year's total revenue is likely to be in the region of $67 million, predicts TNS.

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