The Oscars and Advertising
jennifer
Last Sunday, I spent the evening watching the Oscars with my sister. While our primary objective was to gawk at the best and worst dressed celebrities, we stuck around for the rest of the ceremony. According to Bloomberg, we were among the minority of television watchers.
Walt Disney Co.‘s ABC television network said [Sunday] night’s Academy Awards broadcast was seen in about 21.1 million U.S. homes, the fewest in 39 years.
Even more interesting is Silicon Alley Insider’s report on how it seems that, if you missed the initial broadcast, you’ll just have to wait until next year’s Oscar video package. Countless clips have been removed from YouTube and other such video sharing sites. However, the official Oscar website—whose streaming clips from the ceremony are still not functional—has large advertisements that function perfectly.
On the topic of ads, I and other gadget geeks at Engadget, noticed quite a bit of tech product placement during the actual ceremony. At one point, Jon Stewart watched a film on his iPhone, the popular Apple product, and the logo and product name are clearly visible (in high definition for some!) on the screen. Not a complete surprise given the relationship between the network, ABC, and Apple; ABC is owned by Disney, Steve Jobs—head of Apple—has served on Disney’s board, and Disney has often been an early adopter for Apple’s distribution model—particularly providing the popular Pirates of the Caribbean to bolster their store’s initial catalog of films.
Also making an appearance at the Oscars was the Nintendo Wii gaming system. This was pretty interesting as the rumor mills have been going on about a connection between Apple and Nintendo for as long as I can remember. However, this may be a sign that a partnership could be in the works. Last year, the Unofficial Apple Weblog reported on a rumor that Nintendo would license some games for the iPhone. I could also imagine iTunes Music Store podcasts and movie downloads/rentals being available on my Wii at home, but perhaps that is all rumors and wishful thinking.
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| Posted on February 27, 2008
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