Overview of the Academy Awards

The 90^th Academy Awards, aka the Oscars, took place on March 4^th, 2018 at 8 p.m. ET. It was located at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California. Jimmy Kimmel hosted the program for the second time. He started off with a comedic monologue, but also played tribute to the MeToo movement.

An interesting start to the program, they took on a black and white theme. This was to simulate an older, classic film. Another interesting take on the comedic front was how Kimmel poked fun a decent amount with Black Panther and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This was interesting because it could be seen as a promotional opportunity for ABC, being that they own both franchises.

Those Who Stole the Show

Something that seemed to stick out to the audience was length of the program. Audience seemed to be disappointed with the length of the program, being that it was too long and that they ended up losing attention to the program or falling asleep being that it was late at night on the east coast.

Something that seemed to interest the audience was a speech based towards immigrant and the dreamers. Kumail Nanjiani and Lupita Nyong’o offered the speech to the audience before presenting an award.  

The way that ABC and Jimmy Kimmel tried to thank the people that go to the movies was also an interesting twist on the normal thank you given during an award show. Jimmy Kimmel and a group of major actors went across the street to a sneak peek viewing of A Wrinkle in Time that was set up by ABC for this event. They went over into the theater and surprised the audience with candy and food and a live stream into the Oscars across the street. The movie theater went crazy and Jimmy Kimmel let one of the audience members introduce the presenters following.

Annabella Sciorra, Ashley Judd and Selma Hayek, all women who have spoken out about their alleged mistreatment by Harvey Weinstein, came onstage to discuss about the efforts with Times Up and #MeToo movements and to make sure that equality, diversity and inclusion are represented and continue to be represented.  Following was a short sequence of clips from various arts in the industry speaking out about their path to where they were then (all nominated for awards) and how they got there. They all were minorities who had to push their way into the industry. There were bits and pieces about the movement throughout the program as well, some seeing that the show was split with Casey Affleck presenting, in light of two lawsuits brought against him, and also Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet for E!, also with allegations against him.

Ratings and Competition

The 2018 Oscars hit a new viewership low with only 26.5 million viewers across the almost four-hour time span. This was 19% down when compared to the viewing number from 2017, being 33 million viewers. From 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., the Oscars averaged an 18.9 household rating and 32 shares from Nielsen’s metered market overnight ratings. The previous low was in 2008 when Jon Stewart hosted.

Even though this was a decrease from previous years, ABC still dominated overall for that evening. When compared to the other networks for that evening, ABC averaged a 5.8 rating and 22.4 million viewers. NBC averaged a 0.6, CBS and Fox both averaged 0.5, CBS averaged 4.5 million viewers, NBC with 2.7 million and Fox with 1.7 million viewers.

Social Media

People took to social media both before, during, and after the Oscars. Facebook was the exclusive social media network to live-stream the red-carpet and the backstage coverage from the event. Viewers were able to find the live stream from both ABC’s Facebook page and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science page. It was also live streamed on ABC news website and the Oscars website.

Twitter blew up throughout the program. Viewers took to their social media accounts to discuss their reactions on the program. Some of the top hashtags were #oscars, #oscars90, #oscars2018, #oscar2018, #blackpanter, #theshapeofwater, #coco. People were tweeting and mentioning some of the presents, winners, losers, and the academy. The majority of the tweets came from across the United States and many came from other areas across the globe such as the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Canada. These all varied throughout the program. Many people took to twitter to discuss their feelings towards who they believed should have won. Some tweeted about the politics around the Oscars and how politics plays into the movies and the decision behind who wins.

Advertising and Sponsorship

ABC used the Academy Awards as a way to gain major advertising dollars.  The 30 second advertising spots went for between 2.6 and 2.8 million dollars. This amount has raised since the 2017 Oscars, with the top number being 2.5 million dollars.

The Oscars was brought to the viewers by a variety of companies, such as ABC’s Mary Poppins Returns, Samsun, AT&T, Cadillac, and Walmart’s Delivery Box. Walmart chose to advertise their new delivery box through three different short films that were showcased throughout the program. There were also major advertisers that dropped some major cash in order to advertise during the Academy Awards. There were some by ABC themselves, using the opportunity to showcase their upcoming content and some other that just wanted to be show on a big night for Hollywood.  These companies are: Samsung, Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, Rolex, American Idol. Cadillac, AT&T, Verizon, Twitter, ABC’s Splitting Up Together, ABC’s Station 19, Google Assistant, News Channel 9 (local), the Roseanne reboot, AARP, Crouse Hospital (local), Discover Card, ABC Network all together, Direct TV, Microsoft AI, Dunkin Donuts, and some others.