I’m an avid Oscar-watcher. Every year since 2008 I’ve always tried to watch every contender in every category (save Best Song, which I think is a dumb category), and I do it because it’s a good incentive for me to go out to the theatres and see some of the most remarkable movies of the year. Also, I enjoy watching the show. I think the people look amazing over there, the production values are top notch and the political twist the Oscars have every year is fun, sometimes even remarkable. Also, it’s a great look into American culture: this is what American TV-entertainment is, every day, throughout the year. Once a year is enough for me. It’s really, really exhausting.
Having said that, the unfortunate fact is that this year, the Oscar ratings dipped to all-time low, marking fourth year of steady decline since 2014. Apparently, something is wrong. And there are many reasons: the awards season is packed with all kind of shows competing on importance, and many have managed to gain foothold in the recent years. Also, the competition is more fierce: how to get people dragged away from their games, sports, other shows, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu – for four consecutive hours? And last, but not least, it’s a 90-year-old TV format, which hasn’t practically changed at all during those ninety years, how can you expect to keep the attention of people of nowadays?
So, for the Academy, I have compiled here a list of changes you need to do in order to get the show back on track for next year. Let the new era of Oscars begin.
1. Algorithm it! What the hell are you doing with this ages-old secret Illuminati-type organization called “Academy”, when you can go full-on Orwell, create a secret yet always changing algorithm which creates an infallible system on which you choose the films for each category.
2. Gamify it! I mean, a real competition, that’s what’s popular nowadays. Let the academy choose each category contenders, but the audience to choose the actual winners. And don’t make it boring: make them reprise their whatever role it is: actors performing their roles, directors directing, sound designers creating their sounds… Live. That’s sexy nowadays. Like American Idol. That shit sells. And cooking shows.
3. Optimize it! I mean, it’s totally possible have different set of films, awards and presenters for each group out there, all you have to do is just to optimize it based on the person’s political views. Current Oscars are missing the apparently massive amount of Americans who support Trump, NRA, school shootings, racism, sexism and all that stuff -so why even bother showing the current format to them. Better yet, just create your own presenters for every different segment, and it’s all much better and nobody needs to get upset.
4. Make it a journey! Customers need to be brought to the new media in a completely new way. You have to start making the Oscars a journey for the audience. You have to add an Augmented Reality layer on movies, where one can start awarding their Oscars right when they watch movies. They form Teams and then you can all be #TeamShapeOfWater or #TeamThreeBillboardsOutsideEbbingMissouri on the social media and make it a fight that lasts not just one night but the whole year.
5. Geofence it! There’s something Americans will never believe: we still love you. We want to see your award ceremonies in Europe, so start selling those advertisements locally so that we have a chance to watch the show everywhere. And no, even if you sell it to say China broadcasting, it doesn’t mean China broadcasts the show live, which is kinda the idea, really.
6. Micro-Momentisize it! Would you like to know more? Do I need to say more? People want to spend time with your show, but four hours is quite a long time. Make it possible for them to do so at their own pace, base don their own interests. Just remember to add a nice price tag to every click and split the revenue between presenters and award-winners so everyone can make this into a nice dog and pony show for their paycheck.
7. Build Some Smart Content! We want to feel special, right. Wouldn’t it be nice if the winners would say: “…and I want to give special thanks to Timo, who made it all possible for me.” I’m sure there’s an easy tech fix for that, just scan the nominees and make them come wearing a green hood over their heads when they pick the award and everyone can be mentioned.
These are just some of the brilliant ideas I think would really spark up the Oscars. So, see you next year, and feel free to call me in for more terrific consulting. Oh, and the buzzwords are stolen from this website. Thank you Isabella Andersen!
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