Boosted by strong interest in blockbuster films, ABC's "Academy Awards" delivered 19.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
While ABC's "93rd Academy Awards" witnessed a slight lift overall in national ad revenues to $155.9 million, according to one estimate, Nielsen-measured viewership for the event turned sharply lower
-- down a big 58%.
This year's audience tally represents a far cry from Oscars of yesteryear that routinely drew twice that amount.
ABC's "Academy Awards" averaged $1.98 million for a 30-second ad, says TV ad research company SQAD. Preliminary results show the no-host broadcast was down 20% to 23.6 million viewers -- setting a new
record low, Nielsen says.
Unlike the Super Bowl, whose annual advertising price tag seems to defy gravity, going up every year, the next big perennial TV advertising event -- the Oscars telecast -- appears to fluctuate
year-to-year.
There's been a lot of discussion about who might be the host of this year's Academy Awards broadcast after Kevin Hart was forced to step down when some old controversial tweets were discovered. While
interesting, and perhaps newsworthy, whoever the host turns out to be will have little to do with whether the show is successful either from an aesthetic or ratings standpoint. The problem is with the
structure of the show itself - not who presents the opening sequence and introduces subsequent sections of the telecast. In this week's edition, I provide my recommendations on how to fix it.