The big question at this year’s Oscars – will anyone watch the ceremony?
msn.comYet some suspect such measures are merely a case of deckchair rearrangement. “I don’t believe the host ever has an impact on ratings,” says Anne Thomson, editor-at-large at IndieWire.
Indeed previous efforts to woo the under 30s with hosts such as Seth Macfarlane, James Franco and Anne Hathaway have been spectacular flops. “Ratings are going to rise from last year,” says Thompson, “there’s nowhere to go but back up. ” Yet the economic model which relied on advertising spend for the awards telecast is almost certainly under urgent review by the Academy. “If you’re standing in the middle of a rainstorm,” says Steven Gaydos, executive VP of content at Variety, “nobody has to tell you you need an umbrella. ” Gaydos believes that the Academy, caught unawares by the rapidity of change, will be scrambling to replicate the kinds of strategies now adopted by movie studios.
Rather than concentrating on the box office performance of one headline movie, the focus is on the impact of a year’s worth of content. Gallery: The best movies about gambling ever made (Espresso)Cash-generation measures under consideration by the Academy are likely to include sponsorship deals, year-long awards clubs, social-media monetisation – and belt-tightening.
And while the Oscars – and many in the industry – were previously sniffy about ceremonies such as the Golden Globes, this year’s cancellation of that, after celebrities boycotted the event and NBC refused to screen it, may have been an unexpected blow. “The Globes was a drumbeat of awareness,” says Thompson. “They were a good thing, because they were promoting the movies, and the race.
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