In a year when even more people were kept out of the Oscars than usual, Verizon offered its 5G users exclusive virtual backstage access during the award ceremony on April 25.
Held in downtown Los Angeles’ Union Station, instead of its normal home at the Dolby Theatre, the Academy Awards featured a stripped down version due to the coronavirus. But that didn’t stop Verizon, sponsoring the broadcast for the fourth year in a row, from providing private access to its members.
Three different 5G portals were available that allowed viewers behind-the-scenes access to the red carpet (which was actually pink), ability to view winners in the press room talking to the media, and even the engraving station where winners had their name inscribed on their statue.
For Andrew McKechnie, senior vice president and chief creative officer at Verizon, having the service provide exclusive content was something that was needed even more during the pandemic.
“The broadcast is going to be different this year,” said McKechnie in an interview prior to the Oscars. “All of the broadcasts over the past 12 months have been very different because of the pandemic. But it’s still something we think it impactful and an important night to show up on. This is something that viewers usually don’t see. Viewers are going to be able to portal into that and they won’t miss a single moment.”
The 2021 Academy Awards were viewed by 10.4 million people, the least watched and lowest rated Oscars ever. But that’s par for the course for award show ratings this past year. The Grammys had 9.2 million viewers in March, while the Golden Globes in February and the Emmys last September had 6.9 million and 6.4 million viewers respectively.