Disney Sells Out Oscar Ads, Reaps $2M Per :30

Disney Advertising Sales has sold out all national TV advertising inventory for the "The 93rd Academy Awards" to be aired on ABC on April 25.

Top sponsor-level advertisers in this year’s show include Google, General Motors, Rolex and Verizon.

Participating sponsors include AARP; Accenture; Adidas International, Airbnb; Apartments.com, Apple, Corona, Disney+, Eli Lilly, Expedia, FreshPet, FX, Grey Goose (Bacardi), GSK, Honda, Kellogg; Keurig (Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar), Mars, Procter & Gamble, Panera, Power to the Patient, Starbucks and Subway, among others.

Theatrical participating sponsors include Searchlight, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers. Plus, Disney Advertising Sales Local has signed local TV sponsors for ABC TV stations, including Mercedes-Benz, Swarovski, Resorts World, Spectrum and Virgin Hotels.

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Disney didn’t disclose any advertising financial data for the event.

Last year’s three-hour-plus no-host event, which aired in early February before the pandemic disruption took hold, earned a Nielsen-measured preliminary result of 23.6 million viewers. That was down 20% from 2019, setting a new record low for the awards show.

Thirty-second unit commercial pricing for this year’s event appears to be the nearly the same as a year ago.

Kantar, the data analytics company, said: “Despite dwindling viewership and the impact of the pandemic on the economy, ABC hasn’t made any significant changes to ad pricing its biggest revenue generating event of the year, seeking $2 million per 30-second spot for the 2021 Academy Awards.”

For 2020, Kantar estimated the average price for a 30-second commercial was $2.15 million, up from $1.98 million in 2019.

Total ad revenue for the 2020 awards show was $150 million -- $129 million for the awards ceremony part of the show, and $21 million for the pre-red carpet show, compared to overall total ad revenue of $126 million in 2019.

Total advertising time -- paid advertising, network promos and PSAs -- came to 43 minutes/5 seconds -- the second-lowest level of non-content time for the Oscars since 2016. Major advertisers a year ago included Cadillac ($17.2 million), Verizon ($12.9 million), Hulu ($10.8 million), Rolex ($10.8 million) and Google ($8.6 million).

This story has been updated: Starbucks is in the list of advertisers ABC provided — Credit Karma, previously listed, is not.

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