The Oscars are Primed for a Ratings Resurgence
Posted by Team Screenline on Friday, February 12, 2010 in (0) Comments • Permalink •
Ratings for the Academy Awards over the past few years have been less than golden. The past five Oscar telecasts, from Million Dollar Baby to Slumdog Millionaire, averaged 37.9M viewers. The five before that, from Return of the King to American Beauty, averaged 41.5M viewers, a drop of 10%. The world of entertainment is much different from ten years ago. Moving the Oscars up a month created an abrupt, cluttered awards season, diluting its event status. Seeing glamorous movie stars on your television doesn’t have the same allure in this age of fashion blogs and gossip rags. Blockbusters and Oscar films became mutually exclusive for the most part. And don’t forget DVR's and audience fragmentation.
To the Academy’s credit, they’ve tried everything to bring viewers back: hosts like Chris Rock and Jon Stewart, handing out awards in the aisle, even Cirque du Soleil. This year, with ten best picture nominees, and some help from lady luck, the telecast may actually have a shot of grabbing its highest ratings in a decade.
The ten best picture nominees have something for everyone. Just like the Academy wanted, they are a mix of blockbusters and arthouse films. Five of the films crossed $100M pre-nomination; only two nominees did that in the last five years. Up and The Blind Side have strong appeal to Americans in the South and Midwest. Sci-fi and comic book fans still fuming over The Dark Knight’s omission can root for District 9. Precious is the first film with a predominantly African-American cast to be recognized since Ray. Even typical “Oscar-bait” films like Up in the Air and A Serious Man are in the mix.
The Oscars have been called “The Super Bowl for Women” by Madison Avenue. Now the show’s target demographic has a reason to be more invested than ever. For the first time, two best picture nominees have been directed by women, and Kathryn Bigelow could very well nab the directing Oscar. Three of the films have female lead characters. And the best actress frontrunners have bucked the getting-ugly-for-Oscar trend in favor of portraying strong, successful, happily married women.
Finally, much like the Olympics, the Oscars thrive when the story behind the races is compelling. In 1998, 55M people tuned in to watch cultural phenomenon Titanic sail off into Oscar history and two childhood friends from Boston collect trophies. Six years later, 43.5M Hobbit-lovers watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy finally get its due. The Oscars have neglected to play up the recent human interest stories behind the races. To be fair, though, besides Diablo Cody and Brokeback to the Future, the nominees haven’t been that interesting to non-Oscar aficionados.
But thanks to Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron, the Oscars have one helluva story, a Battle of the Sexes for the new millennium, Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King on the red carpet. It’s the ultimate David and Goliath – the critically-adored, little seen film up against the biggest movie of all time. And with PGA and DGA victories to back up The Hurt Locker’s unanimous critical praise, this race is closer than anyone thought. Add to that beloved movie stars Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges angling to collect their first statues, and the Academy has a PR bonanza not seen since Halle Berry made history eight years ago.
Between a popular, diverse slate of films and some great stories behind them, the Oscars telecast has enough populist ammo to shoot it past 40M viewers, and maybe more.
--Philip Siegel