- "Twilight" From Summit Takes A Bite Out of Major Studios
- Why Henry Waxman's New Post Is Good For Hollywood
- China Seems To Be Unexpected Bright Spot For TV Advertisers
- Netflix CEO Hastings On Digital Distribution And Economy
- Advertisers Want Auto Industry To Stay Afloat
- National Geographic Goes Video Gaming
- Television Networks Finding Ways To Cut Corners
- GE's Immelt: Still Interested In Media
- Sony And MGM's Bond Blockbuster Weekend
- Magazines Continue Being Ripped By Economy
More Videos
- Out with Cox, in with Uptick Rule
- Pops & Drops: Hewlett-Packard, JP Morgan & Air Wagoner
- Mad Money Green Week: Owens Corning
- Fast & Furious: It's All About Soup
- Web Extra: The Trade on Walmart and RIMM
- Chartology: Grossly Oversold and Favoring the Upside
- The "Armageddon" Gameplan
- What's Next for Citigroup?
- What to Expect From a Geithner-led Treasury
- Saudi Arabia Forced To Slash Interest Cuts By Crisis
- Asia-Pacific Summit Continues Drumbeat Of Economic Woes
- Global Markets Want Catalysts For Buying This Week
- Economic Team Obama: Will It Help Settle Markets?
- American, Asian Leaders Push Free Trade To End Crisis
- Citigroup Update: Reports Emerge Of Possible Plan
- Soros: More Money Needed For U.S. Bailout
- HP Earnings: How Much Will "Hurt" From Economy?
- Obama Warns On Economy: Works On Stimulus Plan
Text Size 
 |
And now one of the biggest nights on TV all year is losing its big auto advertiser, General Motors [GM
Loading...
()
] , which has been one of its biggest overall advertisers.
GM has long been one of ABC's biggest spenders for the Academy Awards, spending $110 million for Oscar commercials over the last 11 years; $13.5 million for the 2008 Oscars. GM has even gone beyond the 30-second spot, giving the show GM cars to shuttle celebs around on the big night.
Needless to say, with high gas prices crunching consumer spendin,g GM has been pulling back on its overall ad budget. But it's shifting its focus away from traditional TV ads -- it also pulled out of this year's Emmys -- and toward online ads which give a more carefully measured return on investment.
How bad is this for Walt Disney-owned ABC which brings in about $80 million in Oscar ad revenue?
It's certainly not good to lose one of your biggest sponsors, especially on the heels of an Academy Awards ceremony that almost didn't happen because of the writers' strike. But ABC does have plenty of time to strike deals with new advertisers.
And if you look at the other big ad buyers usually drawn to the Oscars, some of them will be affected by the consumer crunch, like J.C Penney [JCP
Loading...
()
].
But others, like Coca-Cola [KO
Loading...
()
] and McDonalds [MCD
Loading...
()
], will likely continue to invest in Oscar ads regardless of the economic environment. After all, it's called the Super Bowl for women for a reason; it pretty much guarantees advertisers they'll reach that desirable female demographic.
Questions? Comments?
Del.icio.us
Digg It
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes