ABC Sells Out Spots in Oscar Telecast

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ABC said it sold out all of the commercials for the 87th Oscar broadcast.

Sources said 30-second spots were priced at about $2 million for the Academy Awards.

The show is usually the top-rated entertainment special of the year and is often referred to as the female Super Bowl because of its audience, the high price of spots and the new ad campaigns sponsors roll out for the occasion.

Like sports, the Oscars are attractive to advertisers because they are mostly watched live, which keeps viewers from using DVRs to skip spots.

Among the advertisers in this year’s Oscars are AARP, American Express, Anheuser-Busch. AT&T, Coca-Cola, Coldwell Banker, Comcast, Discover, GM, J&J, King's Hawaiian, Mars, McDonald’s, Netflix, Sprint, Samsung, Sonos and The Walt Disney Co., parent of ABC.

This year’s award show will air Sunday and will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.