Oscar Ratings Lowest In 8 Years, Key Brands Draw Big Engagement

by Wayne Friedman , February 23, 2015

Viewership for ABC’s "87th Annual Academy Awards" telecast was predictably down from last year’s edition. But many commercials performed well.

The show earned a Nielsen 36.6 million viewers and a 10.8 rating/27 share among adult 18-49 viewers -- down around 18% versus a year ago -- the lowest levels in eight years.

Last year’s Oscars telecast produced a 13.1 rating among 18-49 viewers and 43.7 million overall viewers -- yielding the highest results since 2000.

Media analysts anticipated lower numbers this year -- especially as only one of the Best Picture nominees, “American Sniper,” produced significant U.S. box office results.

With other big networks virtually on the sidelines last night, ABC pulled in big numbers leading up to the “Oscar” program.

Its “Oscar Red Carpet Special” posted 4.6/14 in 18-49 (and 19.3 million overall viewers) from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.; a 6.1/17 (23.6 million overall viewers) at 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.; and an 8.3/22 (30.0 million) for the 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. hour.

Many “Academy Awards” commercials overindexed when it came to commercial retention by viewers. Ten “Academy Awards” commercials scored high in terms of retention/engagement, according to TiVo.

AT&T Mobile earned a high 90.1% score; followed by McDonald’s at a 87.6%; Cadillac, 86.3%; Google, 85.2%; Pixar “Inside Out,” 84.9%; Samsung, 83.9%; Adobe, 83.8%; Lexus NX, 82.6%; American Express, 82.4%; and Apple, 81.8%.

TiVo Research estimates the interest in programming content by measuring the percentage of the TiVo audience watching in "play" speed. The most engaging ads are determined by looking at commercial spots, which yield the biggest bump in viewership relative to the surrounding 15 minutes of programming.

By way of comparison, TiVo says the “15 minute-live-plus-same day commercial retention” for fourth-quarter 2014 for prime-time broadcast was 76.8% and for prime-time cable, 83.9%. For the 2015 Super Bowl the number was 98.4%.

academy awards, advertising, brands, engagement, media measurement, ratings, tv

3 comments about "Oscar Ratings Lowest In 8 Years, Key Brands Draw Big Engagement".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, February 23, 2015 at 6:10 p.m.
Interesting. So TiVo finds that primetime cable commercials out performed broadcast network primetime commercials in audience "retention" by about 9%during the fourth-quarter of 2014.
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John Harpur from Yellow Submarine, February 24, 2015 at 12:39 p.m.

Wow, the disparity between the cable and broadcast tune retention is incredible in the most literal sense.

Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, February 24, 2015 at 1:01 p.m.

John, you should see some of the other TiVo findings---like how ads in primetime fare relative to those in daytime TV or how various program genres perform in this regard. They've got lots of interesting data that needs to be looked at by the powers that be.