NEW INC. MAGAZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN

 

The Oscars Needs to Change Its Act

Like many businesses, the Academy Awards show is challenged by new distribution patterns and changing audiences. As brands such as Chanel have shown, there are smarter ways to reach target customers.

 

EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @HOWARDTULLMAN1

MAR 19, 2024

 

That the producers of the Oscar awards would look for ways to make money on the show isn't an issue that should really surprise anyone. Somebody's got to pay the bills. Monetization of any audience, along with a demonstrable path to consistent profitability, are the same questions that we've asked regularly about aggregation companies like Twitter/X since its inception; about the streaming music business for seemingly forever; and about thousands of other struggling startups and profitless growth stage businesses which built things and are still hoping that sufficient folks will become customers or users.

The Academy Awards show certainly isn't new, but especially in the post-pandemic world, they're struggling to find a new economic model that will make sense as the audience ages, splinters, and shrinks. The key to successful monetization is timing and riding the horses in the direction that they're already headed. Now's the time for the Oscars to get on board. The year-over-year financials aren't readily available, but, in fairly short order when the networks start the bidding for the next few years of carrying the show, the new offer numbers will pretty clearly tell the story and they aren't expected to be encouraging.   

As the live, real-time, viewing audience has diminished -- 2014 was the last time this century that there were more than 40 million viewers - and, as the program itself enters the carriage and sponsorship renewal gauntlet, monetization is a persistent and important part of every conversation because the typical revenue streams are unlikely to be sufficient to support the scale and costs of the venture. Post Covid-19, the numbers and ratings for the show have somewhat rebounded -- about 20 million in last week's broadcast -- but they are still far below historic levels and it's increasingly hard to see how without some radical change the situation is likely to improve.  

As an aside, it doesn't really help when, for all the glitz, the Oscars award nominations and results so often disappoint most viewers. I realize that - again this year - virtually no one, including a large segment of the attendees saw even a bare majority of the 10 Best Picture nominees. But it's still beyond sad that Barbie, the year's biggest and an undisputed blockbuster, didn't win any of the major acting, directing, or writing awards except for Billie Eilish's great song. And Killers of the Flower Moon went 0 for 10.

Honestly, judging by the sparse promotion and social media exposure, most of the potential viewing public presumably hadn't even heard of five of the nominated films. A couple of the others only broke through the competing media noise and clutter by virtue of having a super-high visibility leading actor such as Bradley Cooper in Maestro.

One measure of the industry's own relative ignorance and indifference to the interests of the viewing audience was the treatment of 97-year old Mel Brooks (director of The Producers, Young Frankenstein, and Blazing Saddles) who got a lifetime achievement Oscar two months earlier in a separate ceremony and basically no mention during the live show. Instead, we got canned and scripted tripe written by morons and stiffly and haltingly delivered by squinting actors who vainly refuse to wear their glasses. This is preferred by the producers to real comic genius.

And there was the painful and inept delivery of the final and most important award of the evening. Al Pacino had to actually publish an apology for not announcing the names of the 10 nominees for Best Picture before he choked out Oppenheimer as the winner, an omission he blamed on the show's producers. Let's all just agree that there were probably a million better places in the painfully long production to save the minute or two that this time-honored gesture or the recognition of a Hollywood legend such as Brooks would have taken.

While we're at it, let's admit, as unfortunate and politically incorrect as it may be - even in Hollywood - we're all here to see the stars, the blockbusters, and the big awards. Nobody but the inside insiders gives a rat's behind about all the minor awards given to people no one's ever heard of. I say make room next time for people like Mel and bag the boring segments. But that's not gonna be enough by itself to ring the revenue register.

The program needs a new draw or attraction and I think the solution is right in front of them. If you want a hint, check out the video that opened Chanel's 2024-2025 fashion show. Make expensive mini-movies that are fancied-up ads which star the stars and show them exclusively during the Oscars. Build the buzz until the noise is as big as the Super Bowl. But make sure you understand the four critical ground rules.

 1.    It's All About Art, not Commerce.  This is a complete and utter lie, but it's essential at the beginning of the process. If you doubt that, watch the Chanel video again. The most effective advertising is aspirational. Or watch Beyonce's Verizon ad. You think she's selling the service or herself? Why grow up when you can make movies?

2.    The Slots are Scarce and the Stars are Many. This is all about fierce competition, just like the rest of the award show itself. If your agent doesn't get you the right gig paired with an important ad partner and a hot director, you're a loser. If it's an ad for a cause, you get extra credit, but those guys don't generally have the dollars.

3.    No One Can Afford Not to Play.  FOMO is as rampant in Hollywood as Ozempic, and always has been. Once the ball gets rolling, the annual social media question will be "who missed the boat?" and who got left out. If your ad isn't there, people will talk and, pretty soon, you'll be nowhere. Eventually, there will be a follow-on show about the best of these mini-movies.

 4.    Make Sure the Money Matters.  Nobody in show business does anything important for nothing. As they say, the deal is the sex while the movie is just the cigarette. What is spent on these "productions" will be just as big a part of the story as which celebrity they feature, and the product or service being sold. Money is still the only real way that anyone in Hollywood keeps score.  

Bottom line: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em and always make it all about them.