Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Oscar the Grouch
The Academy might believe in the magic of movies and their impact in people's livesbut they sure don't want people to celebrate except in a six hour telecast on Sunday. Variety reports that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences requested YouTube to pull all clips of the show. Several segments of the show had been among the most-viewed content of the week.
The academy claimed this was to "to help manage the value of our telecast and our brand." They went on to say that they have clips available on their site; however, the clips were short and did not include the same content as the YouTube clips. Furthermore, the Academy said that the clips they offer will eventually be removed, to "whet people's appetite for next year's show."
How myopic can the Academy get? The ratings for the Oscars have been in steady decline for years. Any segment on YouTube is FREE ADVERTISING for the brand and the telecast. If someone sees a segment in one years telecast that strikes them as funny or worth watching, they are more likely next year to tune in to see it for themselves. Not airing clips from the show for others to see means a steadily declining audience made up of die-hard watchers and does nothing to entice new viewers. And, given that the Academy never airs footage from their telecast except within future telecasts themselves, creates an insular and infertile medium for growth.
Labels: Anti-Fun, Got a Permit for Breathing, Hooray for Hollywood
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