Disney has officially sold out ad inventory for Sunday’s 98th Oscars telecast, the company announced on Thursday. Ad rates grew by double-digits compared to last year, with a 30-second spot at the show going for north of $2 million.
The ceremony will have 18 returning sponsors and 24 new sponsors. Proud sponsors for this year’s ceremony include Rolex, who returns for its ninth year, and Burger King, which joins the category for the first time. Additional advertisers include Disney Cruise Line, Dunkin’, Eli Lilly and Company, Eucerin, Intuit TurboTax, L’Oreal, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Miebo, Paris Baguette, Peacock, Starbucks, State Farm, Toyota and Verizon.
Mazda, Pfizer and Volkswagen of America are also tapping into opportunities, such as “Know Your Movies” on Hulu and “Critically Acclaimed” on Disney+, as well as TikTok Pulse Premiere and Disney CreativeWorks produced custom content and enhanced media formats. Additional surrounding moments include “On The Red Carpet at The Oscars,” a live pre-show syndicated across major local markets and streamed nationwide, as well as the “After the Oscars Show.”
This marks the sixth consecutive major live tentpole sell-out for Disney Advertising, including the 97th Oscars, The 59th Annual CMA Awards and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.
Disney Advertising’s Senior Vice President of Entertainment and Streaming Solutions John Campbell told TheWrap that conversations with advertisers for Sunday’s event started almost immediately after last year’s Oscars ceremony.
Those discussions continued into the upfront, where Campbell noted more units were sold than in past years. He added that Disney is seeing demand across all ad categories, with streaming revenue for this year’s Oscars up 76% year over year, inclusive of both Disney+ and Hulu, while social grew 46% year over year.
“Brands are definitely looking at a longer term vision for their live event strategy,” Campbell said. “We saw that loud and clear with a few of our live specials this year. We saw it with the CMA Awards, we saw it with the Oscars and we also saw it with New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, where we had partners coming in for multi-year commitments.”
Looking ahead at 2027, Disney’s live event lineup includes the College Football Playoff National Championship, The 69th Grammys, the 99th Oscars, and Super Bowl LXI. Campbell teased that the first quarter of that calendar year would be “pretty robust.”
“We are in conversations with brands now to figure out what does their live event planning look like with the Walt Disney Company,” he said. “We are going to be so dominant during that quarter.”
The 98th Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and streamed live on Hulu, airing in more than 200 territories worldwide.
