Seems like about as safe a choice as any. I've never been a huge fan of the Oscars but I realize that they are the biggest awards in movies and regardless of whether or not I like them, they are...
Seems like about as safe a choice as any.
I've never been a huge fan of the Oscars but I realize that they are the biggest awards in movies and regardless of whether or not I like them, they are important. But I think the Academy Awards are rapidly losing relevance with the general movie going public.
Many of the biggest and most popular movies of the last few years have been exclusive to streaming services, and thus ineligible for Oscar consideration. A few have received the cursory one day screening in a theater to be nominated, but many have not. While they still might be important for the industry, I think more and more people are realizing that many of the movies they like aren't even on the Academy's radar.
On top of that, over the last 25 years, television (by which I really mean any serialized story telling) has been pulling in talent from movies (both in front of and behind the camera) and a lot of the most exciting stuff has been either television series or even miniseries events.
They've tried in the past decade to make it less focused on the "art" of moviemaking and more about popular films by adding more entries in the Best Picture category and last year's ill advised "fan moment", but none of those have really gone over well with either the general public or Oscar voters.
I’d say the primary reason the Oscar’s have lost relevance is cord cutting and the rise of streaming. The ceremony isn’t available to stream anywhere, and most people only have streaming services...
I’d say the primary reason the Oscar’s have lost relevance is cord cutting and the rise of streaming. The ceremony isn’t available to stream anywhere, and most people only have streaming services on their TV rather than a provider or an antenna. Live TV has largely become sports dominated.
There isn’t a monoculture like there used to be in the 90s and early 00s. Audiences are fractured across different types of media. And I think that has more to do with it than a lack of popular nominees.
A good example of this are the Emmy’s and the Grammy’s. They both nominate the most popular stuff on the face of the earth. Emmy’s have nominated WandaVision, Mandolorian, The Crown, Ted Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, and so on. Yet their viewership isn’t as high as the Oscar’s.
Even back in the 90s and 00s people complained that the Oscar’s nominated stuff that was too artsy and not popular. Sense and Sensibility, The Pianist, The Piano, Gangs of New York. Most of these nominees were watched after the ceremony.
You’d have to go back to like the 70s and 80s for a time when everyone watched the Oscar’s because there was less choice back then.
Pre-pandemic the academy nominated a lot of populist box office hits. A Star is Born, Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, Joker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Little Women, 1917, Ford vs Ferrari. Yet ratings only slightly improved in 2019 and dropped the next year in 2020.
This upcoming year they’re likely to nominate stuff like Top Gun, Avatar, Elvis, and Glass Onion two of which are already hits and the other two are also going to be hits. Yet ratings aren’t gonna be that high (but at least hopefully higher than last year).
That is am extremely good point, but the Oscars still get a ton of coverage outside of the ceremony. It's front page news on almost every major news site the next day and many even provide live...
I’d say the primary reason the Oscar’s have lost relevance is cord cutting and the rise of streaming. The ceremony isn’t available to stream anywhere, and most people only have streaming services on their TV rather than a provider or an antenna.
That is am extremely good point, but the Oscars still get a ton of coverage outside of the ceremony. It's front page news on almost every major news site the next day and many even provide live commentary. There's still a lot of buzz even beyond the ceremony.
Per this Hollywood Reporter article, ABC has a deal for broadcast rights until 2028 for the ceremony and that they pay about $100 million per year:
But sources in the know tell The Hollywood Reporter that it calls for the Academy to receive a guaranteed annual licensing fee of about $100 million, with the potential for considerably more on top of that through revenue sharing tied to the sale of commercials.
Maybe ABC just doesn't want to make such a huge investment only to put it online for free? I think that's the wrong call but I can see them not wanting to just give it away (even though that's exactly what they do by broadcasting OTA).
Pre-pandemic the academy nominated a lot of populist box office hits. A Star is Born, Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, Joker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Little Women, 1917, Ford vs Ferrari.
That's why I mentioned them spending the last decade reaching for more popular films. They are trying to draw in a broader audience.
Yet ratings only slightly improved in 2019 and dropped the next year in 2020.
I think that comparing any numbers from the last few years for anything movie related is pointless since 2020-2022 were such dramatic departures from anything the film industry has experienced in modern history. The numbers are kind of meaningless.
They don’t technically have to do that. Disney owns ABC and could just simultaneously stream it on Hulu and Disney+ and likely get a bigger audience since Hulu and Disney+ are some of the biggest...
Maybe ABC just doesn't want to make such a huge investment only to put it online for free?
They don’t technically have to do that. Disney owns ABC and could just simultaneously stream it on Hulu and Disney+ and likely get a bigger audience since Hulu and Disney+ are some of the biggest streaming services around.
I think that comparing any numbers from the last few years for anything movie related is pointless since 2020-2022
The numbers I mentioned were both pre-pandemic. 2019 (Green Book) and 2020 (Parasite). 2019 experienced an increase in ratings, to which I attribute to drama regarding Kevin Hart and the Oscar’s having to go hostless, though which some people attributed to more popular nominees (as the Academy had a heavy indie phase during the mid 2010s). But then the next year, even with more popular nominees nominated, the ratings went down.
Right now I think the ratings will continue to go up, at least this year, but there’s just going to be a segment of the audience that’s permanently gone. Not dissimilar to admission dropping for movie theaters (after having peaked in 2002). Some of that audience just isn’t coming back.
Seems like about as safe a choice as any.
I've never been a huge fan of the Oscars but I realize that they are the biggest awards in movies and regardless of whether or not I like them, they are important. But I think the Academy Awards are rapidly losing relevance with the general movie going public.
Many of the biggest and most popular movies of the last few years have been exclusive to streaming services, and thus ineligible for Oscar consideration. A few have received the cursory one day screening in a theater to be nominated, but many have not. While they still might be important for the industry, I think more and more people are realizing that many of the movies they like aren't even on the Academy's radar.
On top of that, over the last 25 years, television (by which I really mean any serialized story telling) has been pulling in talent from movies (both in front of and behind the camera) and a lot of the most exciting stuff has been either television series or even miniseries events.
They've tried in the past decade to make it less focused on the "art" of moviemaking and more about popular films by adding more entries in the Best Picture category and last year's ill advised "fan moment", but none of those have really gone over well with either the general public or Oscar voters.
I’d say the primary reason the Oscar’s have lost relevance is cord cutting and the rise of streaming. The ceremony isn’t available to stream anywhere, and most people only have streaming services on their TV rather than a provider or an antenna. Live TV has largely become sports dominated.
There isn’t a monoculture like there used to be in the 90s and early 00s. Audiences are fractured across different types of media. And I think that has more to do with it than a lack of popular nominees.
A good example of this are the Emmy’s and the Grammy’s. They both nominate the most popular stuff on the face of the earth. Emmy’s have nominated WandaVision, Mandolorian, The Crown, Ted Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, and so on. Yet their viewership isn’t as high as the Oscar’s.
Even back in the 90s and 00s people complained that the Oscar’s nominated stuff that was too artsy and not popular. Sense and Sensibility, The Pianist, The Piano, Gangs of New York. Most of these nominees were watched after the ceremony.
You’d have to go back to like the 70s and 80s for a time when everyone watched the Oscar’s because there was less choice back then.
Pre-pandemic the academy nominated a lot of populist box office hits. A Star is Born, Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book, Joker, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Little Women, 1917, Ford vs Ferrari. Yet ratings only slightly improved in 2019 and dropped the next year in 2020.
This upcoming year they’re likely to nominate stuff like Top Gun, Avatar, Elvis, and Glass Onion two of which are already hits and the other two are also going to be hits. Yet ratings aren’t gonna be that high (but at least hopefully higher than last year).
That is am extremely good point, but the Oscars still get a ton of coverage outside of the ceremony. It's front page news on almost every major news site the next day and many even provide live commentary. There's still a lot of buzz even beyond the ceremony.
Per this Hollywood Reporter article, ABC has a deal for broadcast rights until 2028 for the ceremony and that they pay about $100 million per year:
Maybe ABC just doesn't want to make such a huge investment only to put it online for free? I think that's the wrong call but I can see them not wanting to just give it away (even though that's exactly what they do by broadcasting OTA).
That's why I mentioned them spending the last decade reaching for more popular films. They are trying to draw in a broader audience.
I think that comparing any numbers from the last few years for anything movie related is pointless since 2020-2022 were such dramatic departures from anything the film industry has experienced in modern history. The numbers are kind of meaningless.
They don’t technically have to do that. Disney owns ABC and could just simultaneously stream it on Hulu and Disney+ and likely get a bigger audience since Hulu and Disney+ are some of the biggest streaming services around.
The numbers I mentioned were both pre-pandemic. 2019 (Green Book) and 2020 (Parasite). 2019 experienced an increase in ratings, to which I attribute to drama regarding Kevin Hart and the Oscar’s having to go hostless, though which some people attributed to more popular nominees (as the Academy had a heavy indie phase during the mid 2010s). But then the next year, even with more popular nominees nominated, the ratings went down.
Right now I think the ratings will continue to go up, at least this year, but there’s just going to be a segment of the audience that’s permanently gone. Not dissimilar to admission dropping for movie theaters (after having peaked in 2002). Some of that audience just isn’t coming back.