Nine's coverage of the 88th Academy Awards has seen an audience boost from last year's coverage but brands are the real winners, with Girl Scout Cookies, Android and McDonald's leveraging the event.
Nine's live coverage of the Oscars yesterday afternoon picked up 388,000 viewers in the five city metro audience, and peaked at 811,000; a jump from last year which saw 361,000 viewers tuning in.
The post-event, evening broadcast at 10pm also had 243,000 metro viewers. Both screenings dominated their respective timeslots.
The network also broadcast the event live on its 9Now live-streaming channel, but a spokesperson was unable to give figures by the time of publication.
While Nine saw a year-on-year boost many brands also latched onto the event.
Amobee's Brand Intelligence platform collating the top Oscars-related digital content by engagement and found the Girls Scouts of the United States of America was the top mentioned brand, courtesy of host Chris Rock's recurring joke about selling his daughter's Girl Scout Cookies. The brand picked up 49,023 tweets.
Following suit was Android which used the Oscars as a platform to promote its new advert, featuring a rock, paper and scissors working together.
McDonald's also had a big Oscars moment on social media, using a breakfast food acceptance speech theme for its Oscars campaign.
While an 'Oscars selfie' isn't the only way to leverage the event, Amobee Australia and New Zealand MD Liam Walsh does suggest being memorable and standing out from the pack is key to a good campaign.
“The Oscars are becoming like the Super Bowl for brands, giving them the attention of millions and the power of celebrity to gain awareness and make an impact,” Walsh says.
“Girl Scouts Cookies won the night thanks to Chris Rock's mention on stage, but Android and McDonald's were very clever in the timing, execution and creativity of their ads. The key is to be memorable and stand out from the pack."
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