ABC is hoping you will watch the Oscars and has tapped host Ellen DeGeneres to star in a series of spots to help convince you. The ads, according to the New York Times, are humorous in nature as an appeal to a mass an audience as possible. That's a departure from the campaigns from previous years which tried to use the mystique of the Academy Awards as the primary incentive to watch.

In addition to the DeGeneres starring ads there are also TV spots directed by Spike Lee showing movie fans reciting famous movie dialogue. That same dialogue is the central focus of the official poster created for the 2007 awards. Outdoor and print ads featuring individual lines of dialogue will also be released.

The size of the audience, though, is largely dependent on the type of films nominated for awards. Mass market films will draw a larger audience than a ceremony filled with niche films. That's an important point for ABC since projected audience is, of course, the number it will use when negotiating commercial advertising rates with potential buyers. The Oscar telecast is viewed as the second-most important TV ad outlet of the year after the Super Bowl. Because of the more female-skewing nature of the Oscars a different set of advertisers often show up. Dove, for instance, will be promoting its Cream Body Wash during the ceremony.

The price ABC is asking for the Oscar broadcast is a far cry from the Super Bowl's, though, at $1.7 million for a 30-second spot compared to the $2.6 million CBS has listed for the Super Bowl.