Disney paid ABC $10M to show ‘The Little Mermaid’ teaser at 2023 Oscars

Fans went wild during Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony when a teaser clip of the live-action version of “The Little Mermaid” aired during the telecast.

The two-minute-long trailer debuted when the film’s stars Melissa McCarthy and Halle Bailey presented it onstage at the Dolby Theatre.

Disney is said to have forked over $10 million to unveil the ad during the ABC broadcast, according to IndieWire — much higher than the cost of a 30-second spot which runs “between $1.6 million and $2.1 million.”

ABC is a flagship property of Disney, but the House of Mouse actually paid the network $10 million to show the “Little Mermaid” ad spot during the Oscars.

“Actual money actually changed hands,” the outlet reported, with a source saying the media companies are generally treated like “church and state.”

According to Variety, Disney sold all of its ad spots — typically 60 to 70 commercial slots — for between $1.6 million and $2.1 million.

“The Little Mermaid” used five 30-second spots for the trailer which is why it cost about three times as much for the Oscars sneak peek, an insider told IndieWire.

Pfizer, Sony, Starbucks, Rolex and Verizon are among the brands which bought commercial time during the 2023 Academy Awards.

Elsewhere in the show, Morgan Freeman and Margot Robbie also presented a 90-second Warner Bros. ad spot, a montage that celebrated the studio’s 100-year anniversary.

Sources told Indiewire that spot cost only $3 million.

While viewers at home saw “The Little Mermaid” trailer featuring McCarthy, who is playing Ursula, and Bailey as Ariel, the audience present at the Dolby Theatre didn’t actually see the clip, the outlet reported.

Guests who attended the show said that the broadcast cut to a commercial break instead of showing the full video, which confused many attendees.

This year’s Oscars reached about 18.7 million viewers and even saw a boost in ratings for the first time in three years.

The event, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, went up 12% in viewership since last year’s golden party.