Can creators save the Oscars?
Viewers are increasingly turning to social instead of their TV's to get their Oscars fill
The Oscars aren’t exactly the pillar of marketing they once were. But you have to give them credit - the 2025 awards last year had them on a 5 year viewing high.
Unfortunately this year was a different story. The 2026 Oscars drew 17.9 million viewers across ABC and Hulu on Sunday night, which was down 9% from last year and a four-year low.
Unsurprisingly social media was the bright spot, with social impression of this year’s telecast rising 42.4%, generating more than 184 million impressions across social platforms.
Many people just turn to social clips now to get the highlights without having to commit hours to a live telecast.
But many are also interacting through creators, and this year had more creator integrations than ever…
Amelia Dimoldenberg was the official social media host and red carpet correspondent. This was the third year in a row she played that role. She also hosted a special edition of Chicken Shop Date with nominated actors at the pre-Oscars luncheon.
During the ceremony, film commentary creators including Karsten Runquist and Lizzie Bassett and Chris Winterbauer (from the What Went Wrong podcast) livestreamed their reactions
After the main program, Quen Blackwell, Brittany Broski, and Jake Shane reported from the Vanity Fair Oscar party red carpet
We’ve seen creators integrated heavily into the Super Bowl, Olympics, NBA All Star Game, and now Oscars.
I can’t even imagine how big of a role they are going to play during the World Cup this year.
And this highlights a really smart move these leagues and organizations are making, in that the partnerships they sign with creators look very different from your traditional sponsored post that most brands focus on.
They do a number of things with their creator partnerships…
They leverage creators as talent in their broadcasts
They integrate themselves into the creators broadcasts
They build in person experiences around the creators
They leverage long form content creators even if the content is not long form
They prioritize live streaming as a key distribution channel
It’s amazing how many brands don’t do any of the above and expect the same level of cultural impact.
Now I understand that most brands aren’t content networks capitalizing on a moment in time when millions of people are paying attention.
But why aren’t they?
Creators have become those networks. Some get more views on an AVERAGE POST than the Oscars gets on their live stream. And those creators are often posting many times per week if not daily.
Creators are the new cultural commentators and brands need to think of them more like sports league and entertainment events do, and less like mediums for one off sponsored videos
And in case you were wondering I did not tune in live for the Oscars, but definitely got my fill on TikTok. So it’s not just the Gen-Z 😉
👀 Stories to keep an eye on
Instagram is testing clickable links in captions: It’s for paid subscribers only and just a test now but this would be a huge new feature for IG
YouTube gives advertisers access to top podcasts: The platform’s new Top Podcasts Lineup operates similarly to YouTube Select, and will provide premium ad space on some of the platform’s best-performing podcasts by category.
TikTok expands into radio: The platform partnered with iHeartMedia, which will push the short-form pioneer into radio and podcasts
🌍 Beyond the Substack
I turned my bi-weekly jobs post into a newsletter: It already has over 2k subscribers with one post so clearly we are in a market where there’s a lot of talent looking for new homes
We had Romeo on the podcast this week: She was the creator behind the mega viral Dr. Pepper jingle, and she made for a fantastic guest.
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