The roster of advertisers getting in on this year’s Academy Awards is complete — CTV sold out of on-air spots on Tuesday — and the net’s promotional engine is now in high gear ahead of the Sunday night awards gala.
The network is running Oscar features on multiple programs. Its eTalk Daily has an exclusive interview with host Ellen DeGeneres scheduled for a pre-Oscar special on Friday and is airing ‘Road to the Oscars’ reports every night this week. eTalk will also present 30- and 60-second updates direct from Hollywood throughout the net’s primetime schedule on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The main attraction, eTalk at the Oscars, will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, including the live red carpet celebrity arrivals, and run until the awards start at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Canada AM, meanwhile, is filling the 6:30 a.m. timeslot this week with the results from CTV’s first-ever Canadian Film Media Oscar Poll (on Wednesday), Canadian nominees and fashion critiques (Thursday) and a ‘breakfast bonanza’ live in downtown Toronto (Friday).
The net is also airing Barbara Walters’ annual special and the one-hour Oprah Winfrey special with Jamie Foxx, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Russell Crowe and Sidney Poitier.
Last year, one in three Canadians tuned in for the Academy Awards, a broadcast that peaked at almost six million viewers, making it Canada’s most-watched program of the year with an average audience of 5.1 million viewers, according to CTV. In the U.S., last year’s Oscars attracted an audience of nearly 39 million people.
CTV’s online push is extensive this year, and includes a microsite sponsored by Rogers, oscars.ctv.ca, that is running clips of the nominated flicks alongside news, interviews, an interactive Oscar timeline, an Oscar quiz, and the You Be the Judge and eTalk Oscar Bleacher Seats contests.
CTV is still selling spots online and around Oscar-related programming including the Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters specials.
From Media in Canada