Every year in March, it is all excitement in the movie industry as it gears up for the annual Academy Awards – the Oscars. There is a lot of hype about the Oscars and the press coverage is rather extensive from the arrival of the big stars, microphones, flash bulbs as well as the nominees and other well-dressed and famous movie stars. It is worth noting that the Oscars are not only for the glamorous and powerful. Millions of people tune in on TV with some preferring to watch the Oscars at their nearest cinema.
There is plenty of history surrounding the Oscar Awards ceremony. As much as the event is aired live on TV, many viewers take time to watch the event surrounded by other like-minded people at the cinemas. Interestingly, there are certain factors that affect the viewership of the Oscars. The viewership of the Oscar Awards ceremony often peaks during the years when the box office favorites are given Best Picture nomination like when the Titanic was nominated back in 1998. The broadcast with the highest number of viewers in the history of the Oscar Academy Awards is the 42nd event that was held in 1970. During that specific event, Midnight Cowboy was awarded the Best Picture. On the contrary, when the films that have less box office are most likely to win, then the show ratings have much lower viewership such as when Crash won in 2005.
The History of the Oscars
1930 was the year that witnessed the second Oscar Academy award ceremony. Notably, these awards had already been established with an LA radio station dedicating an entire hour to broadcast the event. During the first Oscar awards, the winners had been announced way in advance. However, this was not the case during the second Oscar awards where the winner's names were released at 11 P.M at the night of the event. In 1940, the LA Times released the winners names before the event began and the guest were able to get this information before arriving at the ceremony, which put a stop to this practice. In 1941, the names of the winners were sealed in an envelope only to be revealed during the Oscar Awards event, which was televised with the broadcast showing all through Canada and the U.S.
By 1966, the Oscar awards ceremony was televised for the first time in color and in 1969 the ceremony was broadcasted internationally. Today, the show can be viewed in over 200 countries. Take note that the initial Academy Awards broadcast was available in 1953 on NBC and it was aired until 1960 after which it moved to ABC. It remained at ABC until 1970 when it moved to NBC again. However, in 1976, the Oscar Awards Ceremony moved to ABC where it has remained until 2014.
From the start of 2004, the Oscar Awards ceremony was broadcasted live approximately 6 weeks after the announcement of the nominees - in the later days of February or Early March. Before that, this ceremony usually took place on Early April or Late March. Switching to the earlier dates was mainly intended to avoid competing for ratings with the NCAA's men's basketball as well as to stifle the period of ad campaigns and lobbying that are common with the season of Academy Awards. During this season, millions of dollars are especially dedicated to publicists and promotions in a bid to enhance the visibility as well as competitiveness of their films. Keep in mind that every four years because of the Winter Olympics, these awards ceremony will take place in the early part of March.
It took a good number of decades to decide the best night in which the Oscar ceremony should be held. Before 1954, the ceremony used to be aired live on Thursday evenings. However, between 1955 and 1958 this event was held on Wednesdays and between the years 1959 and 1998 the event was held on Mondays. Notably, since 1999, the broadcast was moved to Sunday, 8.30 P.M EST/ 5.30 P.M Pacific Time in order to end the ceremony at a reasonable hour for the viewers. These timings have enabled more viewers to tune in considering the absence of the traffic jams during that time. From 2010, the ceremony Academy awards started limiting the winner's speeches to 45 seconds maximum with the hope of getting rid of the long dreaded and embarrassing emotional displays that usually accompany the acceptance speeches.
So, do the Oscars attract more people to the cinemas, or is it just a TV event? Yes, statistics have indicated that the Oscars attract more people to the cinemas. This is a glamorous event and it should not only be classified as any other TV event.
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