Ad rates, demand rebound for Oscar broadcast

A poster showing Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin as hosts of the 82nd annual Academy Awards is seen at the bottom of the steps to the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the Academy's headquarters building after the nominations announcements in Beverly Hills, February 2, 2010.

NEW YORK (AdWeek) - With less than a week to go before Hollywood fetes itself with the red carpet and gold statuettes, ABC has cause to throw a celebration of its own.

The network's broadcast of Sunday's 82nd annual Academy Awards is all but sold out. According to media buyer estimates, ABC heads into its 35th consecutive Oscarcast with two or three spots left, as a sturdy roster of returning sponsors and an improving economy have taken some of the grunt work out of the sales process.

The three top spenders of a year ago -- Hyundai, Coca-Cola and JCPenney -- are back in the limelight, reversing a microtrend that saw perennial high rollers General Motors and L'Oreal drop out last year.

Pricing is trending higher than last year's event, when the recession put the bite on ABC's ad rates. According to Kantar Media estimates, the broadcaster commanded an average price of $1.31 million per 30-second spot in 2009, a drop of 23% compared with the prior-year figure ($1.69 million). This time, ABC has written deals at $1.4 million-$1.5 million per spot, according to media buyers.

Hyundai motors into the broadcast as the exclusive automotive sponsor, buying seven ads that will air during the program and one during the preshow. It's a return engagement for the Korean automaker, which in 2009 signed a three-year option with ABC that grants it the right of first refusal.

Along with securing the greatest chunk of airtime in this year's Oscars broadcast, Hyundai also might boast the most interesting backstory. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences effectively prohibits sponsors from running in-show creative featuring any of the night's nominees or presenters, which put Hyundai in a bit of a pickle. Jeff Bridges, who has been the carmaker's voice-over talent for the past three years, also happens to the front-runner for the best actor trophy. In order to comply with the Academy's criteria, Hyundai shot seven spots with other A-list talent. Bridges suggested a shortlist of colleagues, and Hyundai recently finished recording the final ad, with an assist from Kim Basinger. Other stars filling in for Bridges are Richard Dreyfuss and Martin Sheen.

Also back for an encore is Coca-Cola, which has been the exclusive beverage sponsor of the Academy Awards since 2006. The soft-drink giant is paring its screen time from a year ago, buying two minutes and 30 seconds of inventory, down from four minutes in the 2009 show.

Retailer JCPenney made the third-largest investment in last year's Oscars, spending an estimated $9.2 million on seven 30-second spots. This year, the company has snapped up six minutes of airtime, including a spot for its Cindy Crawford home furnishings line.

ABC will soldier on without a major beauty brand for a second year, a paradox given the show's popularity with female viewers. L'Oreal Paris bowed out four months before the 2009 telecast, taking with it about $11.8 million in ad dollars.

Microsoft and McDonald's will hit the red carpet again, and '09 newbie Sprint is preparing a sequel. Other confirmed clients include Ameriprise Financial, Kimberly-Clark, Samsung Electronics and Hershey's. At least three film studios are in the mix.

If recent trends are anything to go by -- last month's Super Bowl was the most-watched TV program in history, and the Grammys and Golden Globes posted significant ratings gains -- Sunday's show should outdeliver last year's (36.9 million viewers, the third-lowest turnout in Oscars history).