it was the most-watched Oscars telecast in three years. Last year’s show, when The Artist won best picture, had an audience of 39.3 million people. After bringing in Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane as host this year, ABC saw an 11% ratings boost over 2012 among viewers ages 18 to 49 years old.
Host MacFarlane Proves He’s An Oscar Guy
Best-known until recently as the bad-boy creator and character voice behind Family Guy and last summer’s hit film Ted, Seth MacFarlane seized the camera Sunday as host of ABC’s Oscarcast and proved to its vast audience that he’s a ridiculously versatile entertainer, a guy who can be as charming as he is famously irreverent, even polarizing.
The Academy Awards will be breaking new Web ground this year. For the first time, ABC and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will make the full Oscar telecast available for streaming in the U.S. on Monday across multiple platforms.
If simply turning on ABC and watching the Oscars is not enough for you, fire up your iPad, laptop or smartphone at 7 p.m. ETn on Sunday and head to nytimes.com/oscars. There you can see New York Times media columnist David Carr and Times chief film critic A.O. Scott quip about the festivities while playing with a remote control helicopter and being served pizza by Times CEO Mark Thompson.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane will host the 2013 Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles. First-time Academy Awards producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron made the announcement […]
Exclusives
Comedian Jimmy Fallon is in talks to host the Oscars in February, three people with knowledge of the discussions say, adding that ABC has raised objections to having the late-night star from rival NBC play emcee on its Oscar broadcast, but the network has no authority to veto the choice of host.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Billy Crystal says he is hosting the Academy Awards. The 63-year-old comedian and Oscar-hosting veteran said Thursday on Twitter that he is “doing the Oscars so […]
A return to the Oscar stage by Billy Crystal would be a true Hollywood ending after this week’s debacle that started with Brett Ratner’s resignation Tuesday as producer of the show over a gay slur, followed by his pal Eddie Murphy’s departure Wednesday as host.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announced Wednesday that Academy Award-winner Brian Grazer will join Don Mischer as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards. This […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eddie Murphy has bowed out of his gig as host of the Academy Awards, following pal Brett Ratner’s decision to leave the show as producer because […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Producer and director Gilbert Cates, who oversaw a record 14 Academy Awards ceremonies and founded the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, has died. He was 77. […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the tradition of Bob Hope and Johnny Carson, and later Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg, Oscar is going back to its comedic roots […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The film academy has tapped Brett Ratner and Don Mischer to produce next year’s Academy Awards. This will be Ratner’s first involvement with the Oscar show […]
ABC’s Oscars Take A Dip From Last Year
Last night’s Oscars telecast slid a bit in the ratings compared to last year, but it was still well ahead of the 2009 and 2008 ceremonies, based on early ratings from Nielsen. From 8:30 to 11:30 p.m., the ceremony averaged a 24.6 household rating and 37 share on ABC, down 7% from a 26.5/40 last year. But it was up nicely over 2009, when the ceremony averaged a 23.3 rating, and 2008, when it managed just an all-time-low 21.9.
ABC and the organizers of the Academy Awards struck a deal Thursday that will keep the movie-industry telecast on the Walt Disney Co. broadcast network through 2020. The deal, approved at a meeting of the Academy’s board of governors, extends ABC’s existing contract to air the show in the U.S., which was last renewed in 2005 and set to expire in 2014.
Advertisers’ goal for the Oscars is to fuel conversations and build buzz among consumers before, during and after each utterance of “And the winner is.”
One of TV’s biggest events airs this weekend, and many viewers — 13.3% of them last year — will be multitasking on their laptops, phones and tablets while they watch the Academy Awards. To capture their attention on the “second screen,” a handful of media companies are launching companion experiences.
The Academy Awards are second only to the Super Bowl in terms of ad revenue, and this year pricing for the annual ceremony hit a new high. Thirty-second spots went for $1.7 million, according to a report out yesterday from Kantar Media, meaning this year’s show on ABC will outpace last year’s total revenue of $70 million.
The network confirmed Thursday that it has sold out its available inventory in the glittery Feb. 27 award show. The network is fetching about $1.7 million per 30-second spot — a haul that could help the network achieve revenue of more than $80 million for Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, according to advertising insiders.
In a first, Oscar.com will offer a peek behind the scenes with an ambitious live streaming of all-access coverage from the red carpet to the control room to the press room where Oscar winners get 45 seconds for additional thank-yous. The goal is to make the Academy Awards more inviting for younger audiences.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Franco and Anne Hathaway have just what Academy Awards producers want as hosts of Hollywood’s biggest night. They’ll put on a show, rather than just […]
