Oscar ads fetch record $US1.5 million on average

LOS ANGELES - Advertisers are paying a record $1.5 million on average for a 30-second commercial spot during the Oscar telecast says US TV network ABC television.

The commercial average for the film industry's highest awards will surpass the previous record, set last year, of $1.4 million, a spokeswoman for the Walt Disney Co.-owned network said.

By comparison, ABC's highest-rated drama series, "NYPD Blue," averages $195,000 for a 30-second spot, and "Monday Night Football" commands an average of $350,000, according to industry trade publication Broadcasting & Cable.

The Super Bowl remains American television's biggest event overall, averaging nearly 89.6 million viewers for the Feb. 1 telecast. Ads on the National Football League championships averaged $2.3 million per 30-second spot this year.

The Academy Awards presentation has long ranked as the most watched entertainment special on US television each year, though last year's ceremony - overshadowed by the war in Iraq - drew the lowest ratings ever for an Oscar telecast, with just over 33 million viewers tuning in.

Still, the Oscars presentation remains a major commercial platform for advertisers, many of them using the event to launch new ad campaigns. ABC, which has broadcast the Oscars annually since 1976, said advertising time for this year's ceremony sold out last September.

Among the advertisers planning to hawk their wares during the 76th Academy Awards are consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble, fast-food chain McDonald's, luxury automaker Cadillac, the Allstate Insurance company, and Pepsi, the network said.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which sponsors the Oscars, bars advertisements for movies during the telecast and also forbids nominees or presenters from appearing in commercials that run during the ceremony.

ABC said it will air this year's Academy Awards on a five-second delay - a first for the Oscars - to allow network censors to edit out any spontaneous outbursts of profanity or nudity that might occur during the live event.

The network is taking the precaution following the breast-baring performance of Janet Jackson during the CBS telecast of her Super Bowl halftime duet with pop idol Justin Timberlake.

Oscars telecast producer Joe Roth has said the tape delay will not be used to censor political statements that Oscar winners or presenters may make during the broadcast.

- REUTERS