The business of the Oscars

The business of the Oscars

Late last year, the Oscars announced that they’d be making a significant change - moving exclusively to YouTube from 2029. For a ceremony steeped in tradition and history, it’s a major moment as the world continues to move towards digital platforms and streaming… But does it also mean that the awards are losing their relevance? In this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll take a look at:

• The Oscars’ significance in the industry

• And where the awards might be headed…

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First things first, let’s start with a quick summary of how the Oscars work…
Sure thing… The Oscars have been running for nearly a century - this year’s ceremony will be the 98th Academy Awards. They’re handed out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - that’s the academy in ‘Academy Awards’. The different groups within the Academy vote on the nominees - so actors vote for the acting nominees, directors for directing, etc. Once the nominations are sorted, everyone in the Academy votes on the winners. 

Why do the Oscars create the most buzz in awards season?
For all the movie awards that are given out every year, the Oscars are still the pinnacle - they’re seen as the most respected, and they’re the most likely to ramp up your worth in the industry… We have a couple of Aussies in the mix for acting awards this year - Rose Byrne and Jacob Elordi - and we’ll get to what it means for them, but in the lead-up, they’ve been attending lots of other ceremonies, like the Golden Globes and BAFTAs. And whether they’ve won or missed out on those awards has been discussed mainly in terms of what it means for their Oscar chances - because they’re still arguably the awards that matter most in the industry. 

Do the Oscars still matter to audiences?
They do - but probably not in the same way they used to. After the 2026 Oscars, for example, you’ll likely see a bunch of articles about the broadcast TV ratings and whether they were up on last year or down on last year - and while they don’t tell the full story, those numbers are important. 

How are they tracking?
To give you an idea of the overall trend, back in 1998 - when Titanic won big - the Oscars picked up 57 million viewers in the US. The low point was in 2021, during the pandemic, when the audience fell to around 10 million. Things have picked up since then, to somewhere in the high teens/low twenties over the past couple of years. So by any measure, they’re still a huge event. But that doesn’t really tell the full story - the social and second screen engagement is a whole other thing…

What sort of thing are we talking about there?
Essentially, what you’re doing while you’re watching (or not watching) the ceremony itself. We’re talking engaging with viral moments on Instagram, following liveblogs, the fashion moments, watching speeches and musical numbers on YouTube after the event - and those numbers remain very strong when it comes to the Oscars ceremony. So the event absolutely still matters, it just doesn’t matter in the way it used to…

Just explain that a bit more…
Well, social engagement is not what broadcast TV advertisers during the Oscars telecast are paying for; they want people to watch the ceremony itself. And so that might tell us why the Oscars are moving online…

Ah yes, they’re off to YouTube…
Yep - they’re making the switch to the video streamer from 2029 - and they’ll be available exclusively and free. As for why, first and foremost, it’s where the young people are. YouTube is essentially the world’s biggest TV network for people under 35. 

Got it… What else?
There’s also captioning and translation built into the broadcast, meaning that the Oscars may find it easier to broaden its international reach - and it’s going to be easier for it to be on YouTube rather than negotiating different licensing and syndication deals for TV.

So, how will the advertising work?
No one’s quite sure about that or where it’ll fit in… We also don’t know (given it’s still a few years away) who’s going to host. This year’s host is US comedian Conan O’Brien. Now he’s very popular online, but this is already his second time, and it’s unlikely he’ll still be hosting 3 ceremonies from now… 

So who might be hosting when it moves to YouTube?
We’re a long way away, but it’ll be interesting to see if they go for a traditional host, like a talk-show type, or someone much more famous in the YouTube world. The common joke online is that it’ll be one of YouTube’s most popular content creators, MrBeast, but someone like Amelia Dimoldenberg of Chicken Shop Date fame (she’s already heavily involved with the Oscars in a content creator sort of role) might be more suited. Of course, 3 years is a long time - we could have a whole stack of new YouTube stars by then who’re ready to take it on…

OK, now can we talk about the Aussies up for Oscars this year?
For sure… We have 2 nominees up for acting awards - Rose Byrne is up for Best Actress for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and Jacob Elordi is in the running for Best Supporting Actor - that’s for Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein. That’s our on-screen talent, but we’ve also got Nick Cave up for Best Original Song for Train Dreams, and Fiona Crombie is nominated for Best Production Design for her work on Hamnet.

What does it mean for actors' careers to get a nomination?
Apart from all the free publicity that comes with an Oscar nom, broadly speaking, actors will see an increase in their contract for their next movies - roughly 20% according to the figures we’ve seen. But more than that, it’s a big bump in their prestige - especially if they win…

Let’s use Jacob Elordi as an example…
He’s a respected actor as it is, but coming from Australia and getting his start from teen-focused projects like The Kissing Booth movies and Euphoria, an Oscar win would make him even more appealing to more traditionally prestigious directors, giving him access to a wider choice of projects. And then there’s the promo opps…

What do you mean?
His films could now have ‘Academy Award-winner Jacob Elordi' as part of their trailers. For someone like him - already a big name thanks to “Wuthering Heights” - it really might put him into household name status. Of course, he could also follow the template of many who have come before him and parlay it into a big blockbuster superhero film - or, as he’s been rumoured for recently, the new James Bond movie…  

I can see him in a tux driving an Aston Martin… 
Alas, we’ll have to wait and see if that becomes a reality - but even if it doesn’t, at the very least, he’ll be able to have ‘Academy Award nominee’ in front of everything he does now, as will Rose Byrne. Even though she’s not as early in her career as Elordi, her nomination will still be very valuable. Like Elordi, she’ll be able to command more money per film, and she’ll be offered a wider choice of projects (and we should probably note here that neither Elordi nor Byrne are considered favourites to win)… But aside from the accolades and the stars, there’s another big element to the business of the Oscars - the fashion.

Yes… Tell me why the red carpet is a whole thing…
The red carpet is much, much more than the pre-show. For lots of people, it’s even a bigger event than the ceremony itself - and that means the commercial implications for it are huge. Fashion labels have been known to pay millions of dollars to have the nominees and big stars wear their creations on the red carpet. It’s a huge marketing opportunity… 

How big?
The amount of money that goes into certain looks at the Oscars - particularly for big stars - can add up to millions of dollars. Exact numbers are hard to find, but $10 million isn’t unusual for big names… If a certain look goes viral online, gets discussed in blogs, or ends up on front pages, the marketing value for the label is off the charts. 

Is that another way for the Oscars to stay relevant?
Yep… Although you don’t traditionally get really out-there looks like, say, Chappell Roan’s nipple ring dress she donned at this year’s Grammys, because the Oscars are still considered to be a very traditional, formal event - though it still has its moments, like when Icelandic singer Bjork wore a swan dress and laid 6 eggs… So while the Oscars might be navigating some massive changes - moving to YouTube, new audiences, and different viewing habits - most people agree that their traditional prestige and glamour are here to stay… 

And the important bit - when are the Oscars on and where can I watch?
You can watch the Oscars ceremony on Channel 7 or 7Plus on Monday 16 March from 9.30am Sydney/Melbourne time - and Bond or no Bond, there’s a high chance of seeing Jacob Elordi in a tux…

Onto our Recommendations

Perusing: This gallery of some of the riskiest red carpet looks of all time is a fun one to look back on… 

Reading: You can look through all the nominations for this year’s Oscars in this rundown from Awards Daily…

Reading/Listening: If you want to look further behind the scenes of the Oscars, check out our Shortcut from last year on Oscars campaigns…

Canberra, here they come

Squiz Kids has launched a competition, ‘PM For A Day’, and we’re asking Aussie kids to send in a video explaining the one thing they would do to make Australia a better place. The winning prize is a trip for 2 to Canberra for a private tour of Parliament House, a meeting with the Governor General Sam Mostyn - and maybe even a meeting with the (actual) PM Anthony Albanese himself…

It’s all part of The Squiz’s commitment to digital literacy and civics engagement among the next generation. To find out more about the competition and how to enter, go to Squiz Kids - but hurry, entries close on 13 March.

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