Next to Super Bowl, Advertisers Love Oscars Best : Marketing: They’re paying $685,000 for a 30-second spot on Monday night’s Academy Awards telecast.

The big winners in Monday’s Academy Awards telecast won’t necessarily be getting Oscars.

Advertisers are paying $685,000 for a 30-second spot on what is annually the second-highest-rated program on TV, next to the Super Bowl. Besides reaching lots of viewers, advertisers say the telecast bestows stardom upon their products.

And this year, with David Letterman hosting, advertisers expect to reach a broader, younger audience than usual.

“It’s a real plus for us,” said Harish Bhandari, management supervisor at the advertising agency of Fallon McElligott, which created a new Lee Jeans commercial for the Oscars. The ad launches a line of casual clothing for women ages 18 to 34.

Other advertisers will premiere commercials during the event. Coca-Cola will showcase new ads for its Fruitopia non-carbonated drink and its Minute Maid orange juice. Parke-Davis will air a new ad for its “Alzheimer’s Family Care” program. Eastman Kodak has revised a commercial from last year with a voice-over specific to the Oscars.

Advertisers say an Academy Award appearance gives their products a certain star quality and hipness.

“It helps makes us a contemporary brand,” says Don Knauss, spokesman for decades-old Minute Maid, which plans to show off new packaging during a 30-second spot.

The Academy Awards in some ways rival the Super Bowl as a commercial showcase. As the Super Bowl attracts a huge male audience that is a prime target for beer, car and fast-food advertisers, the Oscars draw a mostly female audience ripe for pitches from clothing and cosmetic makers.

According to ABC, 64% of people watching the Oscars last year were wom

en. In January’s Super Bowl, 43% of viewers were women.

Some advertisers, like Revlon and J.C. Penney, have been with the Oscars for years. As with young starlets, it’s difficult for new advertisers to break into the Oscars because returning sponsors are given first crack, and many buy multiple spots. ABC said the 43 available 30-second spots were sold out during the summer.

The Academy Awards attracts an older audience than the Super Bowl, but advertisers think more younger viewers may tune in this year, as a younger crop of stars are up for awards. In addition, Letterman, host of a late night variety show, is expected to attract younger viewers, and more men, they said.

Ratings for the Academy Awards last year were 31.1, representing the percentage of U.S. households tuned in. January’s Super Bowl had ratings of 41.3. But it was also more expensive, commanding $1 million for a 30-second spot.

For advertisers, the Academy Awards have an advantage in that viewership is predictable throughout the broadcast, because awards are dispersed and most of the big ones are saved until the end. The Super Bowl is a gamble because if the game is boring, viewers may tune out and miss fourth quarter ads.

Advertisers, like the stars seated at the ceremony, fret over their performance until the last minute. Kodak this week changed its ad for film to say “all nominees for best picture were shot on Kodak film,” rather than the more esoteric, “all nominees for cinematographer.”

One advertiser making an Oscar appearance after a hiatus of several years is AT&T;, which snapped up three spots to pitch its long-distance service.

“Reaching people in a good mood these days is not that easy,” said AT&T; spokesman Burke Stinson, explaining why the company is on the Oscars. “News shows are depicting murder and mayhem, and special news magazines are depicting murder and mayhem. It’s nice to find a venue that hits people in a happy frame of mind.”

Parke-Davis was less concerned about audience mood than size. The company is debuting a somber ad showing a family coping with Alzheimer’s disease. The ad invites viewers to call a toll-free number to receive information about its free counseling service and its drug Cognex, which isn’t mentioned in the ad.

“The next day in the office, everybody is talking about what they saw,” said David Diamond, a principal with Sun Health Core, Parke-Davis’ ad agency. “If the contrast helps us break through the clutter, we like that.”

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It’s Show Time

Average price for a 30-second commercial during:

Super Bowl XXIX 1995: $1,000,000

Academy Awards 1995: $685,000

“Home Improvement”: $365,000

“Rosanne”: $260,000

“Late Night With David Letterman”: $40,000

Source: Industry estimates (“Home Improvement,” “Rosanne” and “Late Night” figuresfrom fourth quarter, 1994)