Oscars still top draw for advertisers despite fickle ratings

The number of people who watched Sunday's Oscars was down and the critics were less than impressed, but Hollywood's biggest night is still a top draw for television advertisers.

This year's telecast - which producers believed could build off 2014's big audience of 43.7 million - attracted its lowest audience in six years and the oldest demographic ever with a median age of 53.

Despite a 15 percent drop in viewership to 37.3 million, however, it is still worth the price tag for advertisers and broadcaster ABC, analysts said.

"It's definitely a showcase place to be, and they (ABC) never have a problem selling it out year to year," said Steve Kalb, a director at ad agency Mullen.

This year's telecast hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris commanded $1.9 million for 30 seconds of advertising time, up from last year's $1.76 million, the highest among awards shows.

Last year's Ellen DeGeneres-hosted ceremony reaped $95 million in ad revenue, according to Kantar Media. This year's figure is not yet available.

ABC pays $75 million annually to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for TV broadcast rights, said Brad Adgate, the research director at Horizon Media. The contract with Walt Disney Co's ABC and the Academy runs through 2020.

However, the search for a way to attract the younger viewers that advertisers prize most leads many to believe the Academy might have to make long-term changes to the ceremony.

Criticism this year focused on lack of diversity among acting nominees, clunky jokes and the perennial complaint that it is too long. The show clocked in at three hours and 40 minutes and went past midnight on the East Coast.

It also hurt that it was a lackluster year at the box office, and only one film that Americans went to see in droves, "American Sniper," was in the running for best picture.

"It's up to the Academy to change it," Adgate said. "It's up to them to make this awards show more compelling."

The Academy selects the show's producers and host, and its 6,100 members choose winners on merit. The biggest recent change was expanding the best picture nominees from five to up to 10 for the 2010 ceremony in an effort to boost interest.

"As we do each year, the Academy will meet in the coming months to evaluate not only the telecast but also our awards season in its entirety," an Academy spokesperson said in a statement.

ABC declined comment.

Although the Academy might be taking a long view on how to keep the show relevant in a world where TV viewership is on the decline, advertisers are not likely to complain. They like the Oscars reach, prestige and loyal viewers, particularly among women, said Kalb.

One-fifth of Oscar viewers this year said ads increased their likelihood to purchase a product, three times greater than the Super Bowl's audience, according Extreme Reach, a distributor of video advertising.

"It's sort of the Super Bowl for women," Kalb added.

(Editing by Mary Milliken and Andre Grenon)

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'Birdman' soars to Oscar heights on best picture win

LOS ANGELES -- The dark comedy "Birdman" held up a mirror to Hollywood and its struggling actors and received in return the film industry's highest recognition on Sunday, the Academy Award for best picture.

Director Alejandro G. Inarritu's story of a washed-up, former superhero actor attempting an improbable comeback on Broadway won four Oscars, including best director, the second consecutive win in that category for a Mexican filmmaker.

Inarritu thanked the star-studded audience for seeing his "crazy film."

The reward for the satire hews to an Academy tradition of awarding films that honor the entertainment industry, such as "Argo" and "The Artist" in recent years.

Eddie Redmayne won best actor with his painstaking portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything," robbing "Birdman" lead and former superhero actor Michael Keaton of a big comeback moment.

Each of the eight best picture nominees went home with at least one award, but it was a disappointing night for "Boyhood," Richard Linklater's unprecedented endeavor to depict the simple story of a boy growing up over 12 years, all with the same actors. It won one Oscar for its six nods.

Wes Anderson's colorful caper, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" proved popular among the 6,100 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who vote for the Oscars, winning four awards on its nine nominations.

"Whiplash," the independent film about an aspiring jazz drummer and his tough mentor from young director Damien Chazelle, won three Oscars.

It was a night in which the controversy over the lack of diversity among this year's nominees was front and center. First-time host Neil Patrick Harris opened the telecast with a quip: "Tonight we honor Hollywood's best and whitest, I mean brightest."

But the race theme resonated in a more serious way too, when Common and John Legend got a standing ovation and made many in the audience cry with their performance of "Glory" from the 1960s civil rights drama "Selma."

It won best song, delivering the sole victory to "Selma," the film at the center of the diversity debate, sparked by the exclusion of ethnic minority actors from the four acting categories. The nominations sparked the Twitter hashtag "#OscarsSoWhite.

"'Selma' is now, because the struggle for justice is right now," said Legend in the aftermath of recent racially charged protests in America.

Moore, Arquette prevail

The Academy rewarded heavy favorites and veterans with their first Oscars in the three other acting races.

Five-time nominee Julianne Moore won best actress for her portrayal of a woman suffering from early onset Alzheimer's in "Still Alice."

Patricia Arquette won best supporting actress for her role as a struggling single mother in "Boyhood," while J.K. Simmons won the best supporting actor as a monstrous music teacher in "Whiplash."

For the biggest televised event outside the sports world, the Academy aimed to attract young viewers who may not care much about the films but who could tune in for the musical acts.

A bridge between the young and old, pop diva Lady Gaga received a standing ovation for her medley of tunes from "The Sound of Music" before introducing that film's star, Julie Andrews.

Poland's "Ida" clinched best foreign-language film and director Pawel Pawlikowski pushed the 45-second acceptance speech boundary to thank "my Polish friends who are in front of the TV, the crew who were in the trenches with us and who are totally drunk now, and you were fantastic."

Best documentary went to "Citizenfour," director Laura Poitras' feature about National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who detailed the secret mass surveillance programs.

"The subject of 'Citizenfour,' Edward Snowden, could not be here for some treason," joked Harris.

Full list of winners

Following is a list of winners in leading categories.

BEST PICTURE
"Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)"

BEST ACTOR
Eddie Redmayne, "The Theory of Everything"

BEST ACTRESS
Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"

BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro G. Inarritu, "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of
Ignorance)"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Graham Moore, "The Imitation Game"

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris
Jr., Armando Bo, "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of
Ignorance)"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"Ida" (Poland)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"Big Hero 6"

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"CitizenFour"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Glory," from "Selma"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Milena Canonero, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of
Ignorance)"

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
"Interstellar"

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Lady Gaga in moving 'Sound of Music' Oscars tribute

HOLLYWOOD -- The Academy Awards hailed the 50th anniversary of its all-time greatest musical Sunday, recruiting Lady Gaga to gracefully sing a medley of memorable tunes from "The Sound of Music."

Starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, the cinematic tale of the musical von Trapp family in Austria and their mischievous governess is a Hollywood classic.

In contrast to her own flamboyant concerts, Lady Gaga was all about the voice as she sang highlights from the beloved 1965 movie to the accompaniment of a string combo and a choir.



She then gave way to Andrews, 79, to announce the winner of the Oscar for best original score -- Alexandre Desplat, for "The Grand Budapest Hotel."

"Dear Lady Gaga, thank you for that wonderful tribute. Oh my god, it really warmed my heart," said the British-born thespian.

Looking back at the making of "The Sound of Music," Andrews said it was "really hard to believe" that a half-century had passed. "I blinked, and suddenly here I am," she said.

Those involved in making the picture, she said, "all really felt blessed to have been a part of it. As for me, how lucky can a girl get?"

"It's a very special tribute performance," Gaga -- wearing a white Azzedine Alaia gown -- told ABC television earlier Sunday.

"I really put my heart into preparing for it," said the 28-year-old singer-songwriter.

"The Sound of Music" collected five Oscars in 1965, including best picture and best director.

Andrews was nominated for best actress, an honor she won the year before for "Mary Poppins," only to lose to Julie Christie in "Darling."

Directed by Robert Wise, "The Sound of Music" brought to the silver screen the eponymous 1959 hit Broadway musical.

Several of its Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein songs -- like "Edelweiss," "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi" and the title track -- are enduring classics.

Based on Maria von Trapp's published memoirs, the film -- largely fictionalized, as Wise duly warned the family in advance -- remains the highest grossing musical of all time.

The von Trapps left Austria soon after its annexation by Nazi Germany, eventually settling in the US state of Vermont, where they opened an Alpine resort that remains in family hands.

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Neil Patrick Harris salutes movies, pokes Oscars on race

LOS ANGELES -- First-time Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris opened Hollywood's biggest night of the year on Sunday with a fleeting but pointed jibe at the homogenous field of Academy Award nominees, before launching into a spirited musical salute to the magic of movies.

"Tonight we honor Hollywood's best and whitest, sorry, brightest," Harris enthusiastically dead-panned to hearty laughter that seemed to break the usual pre-show jitters among the movie royalty packing the auditorium of the Dolby Theater.

The opening joke was a reference to the criticism Oscar voters faced this year for failing to nominate a single performer of color in any of the acting categories for the first time in many years.

Without wasting another moment, Harris, 41, segued into an opening song-and-dance tribute to the movies, showing off his chops as a live comedy-musical performer, and a conscious effort of Oscar producers to connect with tech-savvy younger television viewers.

"Check out the glamor, and glitter/people tweeting on the twitter, and no one's drunk and bitter yet/because no one has lost," he sang.

Before the number and the on-screen explosion of computer-graphic imagery of film classics had ended, Harris was joined by actress Anna Kendrick, a star of last year's fairy-tale film musical "Into the Woods," and then by Jack Black, leaping onto stage from the audience to play an angry contrarian before being driven away again by Kendrick's hurled shoe.

The performance ended with wild applause, as Harris notes a great paradox of the Oscar -- that few of the most honored movies at the Academy Awards are blockbuster successes.

One notable exception this year, as Harris pointed out, was "American Sniper," which alone grossed at least half of the box office earned by the seven other best picture nominees combined.

"To put that into perspective, everybody on this side of the aisle is the seven other nominees, and 'American Sniper' is Oprah," he said, adding as the camera cut to a perplexed Oprah Winfrey, "Because you're rich."

In one of his zanier escapades, and an homage to a memorable scene from Oscar front-runner "Birdman," Harris ventured from backstage to the show's main stage, followed by a camera, dressed only in his underpants, shoes and socks to introduce presenters of the sound-mixing award, with the words: "Acting is a noble profession."

Harris, who previously has won three Emmys for hosting Broadway's Tony Awards, was recruited by Oscar producers as a hoped-for bridge between older movie fans and younger viewers that the Academy Awards have been desperate to attract in greater numbers.

Harris has a young following himself as a star of the hit CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother."

One obvious sign of the outreach to younger viewers came in a musical performance of the pop duo Tegan and Sara teaming up with former "Saturday Night Live" star Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island trio for a rendering of the kids favorite "Everything Is Awesome."

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Oscars promise suspense and maybe some surprises

Hollywood's awards season reaches its apogee on Sunday at the 87th Academy Awards, where "Birdman" and "Boyhood" are locked in a battle for best picture and veteran actors are likely to grasp their first golden Oscar statuettes.

The film industry's biggest night will serve up its share of suspense as three top honors - best picture, best director and best actor - are proving hard to predict, even for the most seasoned experts.

But those nail-biters will come at the tail end of the three-hour ABC telecast from Hollywood's Dolby Theater, where first-time host Neil Patrick Harris will guide a show heavy on humor, magic and music from big names like Lady Gaga.

Hours before Hollywood's A-list celebrities were due to walk the famous red carpet, a plastic tent remained in place for possible rain showers.

News crews from around the world, in tuxedos and gowns, set up for a telecast that will be seen by hundreds of millions of people in 225 countries and territories.

Meryl Streep will be vying for an Oscar for a record 19th time, in the best supporting actress category. But most, including several of the favorites, are first-time contenders.

"It's been a long journey up to here," said Pawel Pawlikowski, director of "Ida," Poland's nominee for best foreign-language film. "Of course, it would be nice to win as well, but I'm not going to collapse if we don't."

In a sign of how the Oscars might be split, the Film Independent Spirit Awards for small-budget movies on Saturday crowned Alejandro G. Inarritu's show business satire "Birdman" as best feature and its star Michael Keaton took best male lead. Richard Linklater won best director for his coming-of-age tale "Boyhood," made over 12 years with the same actors.

While both Linklater and Inarritu have been nominated for Oscars before, they have never won.

Together, "Birdman" and "Boyhood" have made $62 million at the North American box office, compared to $310 million for the most commercially successful of the eight best picture nominees, Iraq war drama "American Sniper" from director Clint Eastwood.

CRITICISM OF ACADEMY

The dearth of blockbuster movies at this year's Oscars could diminish the number of people who tune in to watch the biggest non-sports televised event in the United States.

Last year with host Ellen DeGeneres and her selfie that broke Twitter, the Oscars pulled in its largest audience in 14 years of 43.7 million viewers.

Forty percent of American adults plan to tune in to the awards telecast, according to the annual Reuters/Ipsos Oscars poll. Forty-five percent said they most enjoy seeing who wins.

The Oscars are determined by 6,100 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a body that has taken its knocks this year for nominating no actors of color in the acting races.

Civil rights groups have called a boycott of the Oscars to protest the lack of diversity and will demonstrate before the ceremony.

But experts believe the Academy, where actors are the largest voting bloc, will reward performers with long careers with their first Oscars.

Eddie Redmayne is front-runner for best actor for his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything." But there might be an upset from Keaton, whose "Birdman" role had him working in very long takes.

"I had no idea how precise we had to be, and how difficult, but you know there's no other way to do it, it's the only way you could make this movie," Keaton said after winning his Spirit Award Saturday.

Julianne Moore, nominated five times in her career, should win her first best actress for her role as a woman with early onset Alzheimer's in "Still Alice."

(Additional reporting by Jane Ross; Editing by Sandra Maler and Frances Kerry)

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