ABC’s
telecast of the Oscars posted some improvements this year, in terms of viewership and national advertising dollars.
Nielsen preliminary ratings for the film event took in 10% more (3.1
million) viewers, totaling 29.6 million. Among 18-49 viewers -- the demographic many advertisers still desire -- it posted a 7.7 rating, up 13% over last year’s 6.8 rating.
Still, TV
viewership of the entire event ranked as the second-lowest ever. The first was the Oscars of a year ago.
“The Oscars” was estimated to have pulled more than $152 million in
national TV advertising -- slightly higher than the $149 million Kantar Media says the event took in a year ago.
Big advertisers this year included Walmart, Verizon, Cadillac, Rolex, Samsung
Mobile, Marriott, McDonald’s, Apple iPhone, Google Phones, Google Home, and Geico. It has been reported some advertisers paid as much as $2.6 million for a 30-second commercial.
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ABC says
social media activity was up 7% to 17.7 million total social interactions, with Twitter taking a 76% share, Instagram at 20%; and Facebook at 4%.
Samba TV says the Oscars were seen in 14.3
million U.S. homes, down 0.7% from a year ago. A viewer is defined as having watched at least five cumulative minutes of the broadcast.
The TV measurement company says that on a comparative
basis to overall U.S. TV viewing, big markets such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and New York over-indexed in Oscar viewers. Major markets under the national average included Orlando,
Charlotte, Raleigh, Cleveland and St. Louis.
Looking at other awards shows this season, the Grammys posted a Nielsen 19.9 million viewers and the Golden Globes took in 18.6 million
viewers.