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$100 million at the North American
box office. Even the SAG awards,
the forgotten ceremony that airs
simultaneously on TNT and TBS,
saw a ratings bump last year. It’s
not just relegated to movie awards,
either: The 2012 Grammys and Emmys also saw audience totals increase from the year prior.
That viewer interest has translated to bottom-line success as
well. “We were virtually sold out
by Christmas, which speaks to the
appeal of the Oscars,” Debbie Richman, senior VP-prime-time ad
sales at ABC, told Advertising Age
earlier this year. “We haven’t been
this well sold, this early, in over a
decade.” ABC was selling 30-second
ads for as much as $1.8 million, an
increase of more than $100,000
from the 2012 Oscar telecast.
It’s no wonder that events like
the SAG Awards, which didn’t even
SECTION
exist before 1995, get primetime
placement today — the ceremony is
another spoke in the Oscar-season
wheel. The demand, facilitated
by audiences, networks, advertisers, critics’ groups and guilds, has
turned awards shows into a yearround boon for Hollywood.
Need more proof? Look no further than Park City, Utah, where in-
HUFFINGTON
02.03.13
The 19th
Annual
Screen
Actors Guild
Awards on
Jan. 27,
2013.
Award shows are so
popular because they are the
gladiatorial sport of our day.”
die film Fruitvale won both the audience award and grand jury prize
at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
“This will not be the last time
you guys walk to a podium,” Sundance juror Tom Rothman said
when announcing that Fruitvale
won the grand jury prize. As Affleck
can probably attest, he’s
not kidding.