Nearly 33 million people watched the 89th Academy Awards telecast on ABC, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on Feb. 26, 2017. That was a slight dip from the year prior, but still a staggering number in today’s fractured world of entertainment fare, where streaming services and cord cutters are changing the game.
This year’s Oscars show – March 4, with Kimmel in line to host again – is expected to attract another mega-audience for ABC, whose broadcast will mark the end of the two-month movie awards season in the undisputed capital of the U.S. movie industry. Many in the entertainment industry will also take interest in the whole parade of awards ceremonies, assessing each as entertainment franchises in their own right. Some are televised and bring in big bucks for broadcast rights sold to broadcasters out for a haul of their own on sales of advertising time. Some are hot tickets, others more accessible. All of them fill seats, and hotel rooms and restaurants with business.
The season kicked off with the Golden Globe Awards, this year presented on Jan.7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, and runs through the Academy Awards. Some awards shows also include television, but this is overwhelmingly considered to be movie season. Micronomics Inc. in downtown Los Angeles pegged the economic benefit of the 2014 Academy Awards – its most recent study – at $67 million in total spending. That’s why the Business Journal skips the typical Oscars’ handicapping to offer this overview of the business behind the major awards shows, which combine to bring millions more to the etertainment industry’s home economy.
Figures are gathered from a variety of trade, news and ratings sources.
75th GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
Sunday, Jan. 7
PRESENTED BY: Hollywood Foreign Press Association
VENUE: Beverly International Ballroom, Hilton Hotel
CAPACITY: About 1,280 seats
TELECAST: Produced by Dick Clark Productions in association with HFPA. Broadcast live on Comcast Corp.-owned NBC, which pays $21 million per year to license the show.
VIEWERS: 19 million
23rd CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS
Thursday, Jan. 11
PRESENTED BY: The Broadcast Film Critics Association and Broadcast Television Journalists Association
VENUE: Barker Hangar, Santa Monica Airport
CAPACITY: 1,500 seats
TELECAST: Produced by Bob Bain Productions and Berlin Entertainment; broadcast live on CW Network, a joint venture of CBS and Warner Bros.
VIEWERS: 1.27 million
49th NAACP IMAGE AWARDS
Monday, Jan. 15
PRESENTED BY: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
VENUE: Pasadena Civic Auditorium
CAPACITY: 2,997 seats
TELECAST: Produced by Gurin Co., Hudlin Entertainment; broadcast live on TV One cable network
VIEWERS: 6.1 million
Producers Guild Awards
Saturday, Jan. 20
VENUE: Beverly Hilton
TELECAST: None
25th SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS
Sunday, Jan 21
PRESENTED BY: SAG-AFTRA with Screen Actors Guild Awards
VENUE: Shrine Exhibition Center, Expo Hall
CAPACITY: 1,500-2,200 seating
TELECAST: Produced by Avalon Harbor Entertainment Inc. Simulcast live on TNT and TBS, Turner Broadcasting System, Warner Bros., plus international broadcast territories.
VIEWERS: 2.7 million
68th EDDIE AWARDS
Friday, Jan. 26
PRESENTED BY: American Cinema Editors
VENUE: Beverly Hilton Hotel
CAPACITY: ACE reports more than 1,000 attendees
TELECAST: None
22nd ADG AWARDS
Saturday, Jan 27
PRESENTED BY: Art Directors Guild/IATSE Local 800
VENUE: Ray Dolby Ballroom, Loews Hollywood Hotel, Hollywood & Highland
CAPACITY: 2,000 seats
TELECAST: None
70th DGA AWARDS
Saturday, Feb. 3
PRESENTED BY: Directors Guild of America
VENUE: Beverly Hilton Hotel
TELECAST: None
45th ANNIE AWARDS
Saturday, Feb. 3
PRESENTED BY: ASIFA-Hollywood, nonprofit branch member of Association Internationale du Film d’Animation, for achievement in animation.
VENUE: UCLA Royce Hall
CAPACITY: 1,800 seats
TELECAST: None; livestreamed on Annie Awards website
WRITERS GUILD AWARDS
Sunday, Feb. 11
PRESENTED BY: Writers Guild of America
VENUE: Beverly Hilton Hotel
TELECAST: None
VISUAL EFFECTS AWARDS
Tuesday, Feb. 13
PRESENTED BY: Visual Effects Society
VENUE: Beverly Hilton Hotel
TELECAST: None
54th CAS AWARDS
Saturday, Feb. 24
PRESENTED BY: Cinema Audio Society
VENUE: Omni Los Angeles Hotel, Bunker Hill Ballroom
CAPACITY: 300-400 people
TELECAST: None
FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS
Saturday, March 3
PRESENTED BY: Film Independent, nonprofit arts organization
VENUE: Beachfront tent near Santa Monica Pier
CAPACITY: N/A
TELECAST: Produced by Tenth Planet Productions. Broadcast live on IFC cable channel, owned by AMC Networks
VIEWERS: 128,000
90th ACADEMY AWARDS
Sunday, March 4
PRESENTED BY: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
VENUE: Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center
CAPACITY: 3,400 seats
TELECAST: Produced by AMPAS. Cost: about $22 million of a total $44 million AMPAS spent on all Oscar-related activities in 2017. Broadcast live on Disney-owned ABC, which pays approximately $75 million annually to broadcast the awards show. Also broadcast in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
VIEWERS: 32.9 million in 2017
