• Advertising Age, Friday, January 11, 2013 11:43 AM

The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday, so here's a timely check-in for ad sales: Advertisers are paying "between $1.65 million and $1.8 million for a 30-second spot in this year's Oscars broadcast, according to media buyers and others familiar with the tone of negotiations, up slightly from the $1.6 million to $1.7 million" paid out to ABC last year, writes Brian Steinberg. And sales are going briskly: "We haven't been this well sold, this early, in over a decade," Debbie Richman, senior VP-prime-time ad sales at ABC, told Steinberg.

The advertisers and ABC may be optimistic about the Feb. 24 telecast, but, just like Vulture's Jesse David Fox, we're worried about the show's entertainment value since Seth McFarlane, who "has almost no on-camera experience," will be host.  We're much more psyched about this Sunday's Golden Globes telecast, featuring "the brilliant pairing of  Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as hosts," as Esther Zuckerman of the Atlantic Wire writes. The two comedians have already invented a drinking and meatball-sub-eating game for viewers.

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