In the News

To Regain Luster, Oscars Get a Social Media Makeover

Along with the ballyhoo surrounding the Best Picture category, now with 10 nominees instead of five for this year's 82nd annual telecast, airing March 7 on ABC, the ceremony is getting its first social-media push to attract younger viewers.

The Academy Awards show has lost a good deal of its golden luster in recent years as the entertainment telecast of the year, sinking to all-time ratings lows in 2008. Viewership increased only 13% last year, making it the third lowest-rated broadcast in Oscar's televised history. The main culprit? Many of the nominated films in recent years have achieved less-than-blockbuster status at the box office, ultimately appealing to older, more-sophisticated audiences -- last year's median age was 49.5, just enough to age the telecast out of its advertisers' most-coveted target audience.