• by David Kaplan , March 3, 2005

Earlier this week, citing a study from Scarborough Research and the putative view that the Academy Awards broadcast is the "Super Bowl for women," MediaDailyNews encouraged the women of America to start shopping.

Apparently, we spoke too soon. A Horizon Media study contends that the conventional wisdom is wrong: The surprising truth is that the Oscars are not the Super Bowl for women, after all. Or, not exactly.

In Horizon's view, even though 62 percent of adults ages 18 to 49 who watched the Academy Awards broadcast were women--compared to 45 percent for the Super Bowl--what matters is the cost per million.

"The Super Bowl cost per 30-second commercial was $2.4 million and the Oscars' were $1.6 million, so the Super Bowl was 50 percent more expensive," explained Brad Adgate, senior vice president and director of research for Horizon. "However, the Super Bowl delivered 59 percent of woman viewers 18 to 49, compared to the Oscars. It seems that 19.3 million women watched the Super Bowl, compared to 12.1 million women who watched the Oscars. That makes it a more efficient buy, while reaching more women 18 to 49," Adgate added.

So when it comes to CPMs for women viewers, the Super Bowl garnered a $124.19 CPM, while the Oscars received a $131.75 CPM, according to Adgate.