The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is launching a $500mn global fundraising drive to bolster its finances and counter a decades-long decline in the audience for the annual Oscars TV broadcast that generates most of its revenue.
The Academy has raised about $100mn already, with individual donors including billionaire Leonard Blavatnik, said Bill Kramer, the Academy’s chief executive, in an interview. It has also signed sponsorship deals with global luxury brands including the Dorchester Collection.
The TV audience for the Oscars has shrunk from nearly 44mn US viewers in 2014 to 19.5mn this year, according to Statista. The current deal between the non-profit Academy and ABC, the Walt Disney-owned TV network that broadcasts the Oscars, ends in 2028 — the 100th anniversary of the awards ceremony — and negotiations on renewal are set to begin soon.