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Ahead of this afternoon’s Oscar nominations for the 87^th Academy Awards, Stephen Follows has broken down the figures behind the biggest prize in the movie biz. Over on his blog, complete with fancy inforgraphics, we also get some pretty incredible statistics on how Hollywood reacts to awards season.

While the average punter will think today’s nominations’ list marks the beginning of the campaign, Mr Follows reports that attempts to win the prize started months ago. And by the time the awards are handed over, the dresses are ranked, the speeches played out to the orchestra on February 22^nd, more than €80m will have been spent to take home the golden statuette.

Here are some of the incredible facts you might not know about the Oscars:

• Oscar voters are 94% white, 77% male and have a median age of 62.
• 56% of ‘Best Picture’ nominees were released in either November or December.
• The cost of a ‘Best Picture’ winning Oscar campaign is around $10 million
• Half of all the money spent on Oscar campaigns will go to advertising
• A page 1 advert in The Hollywood Reporter during Oscar season costs $72,000.
• Crash (2005) spent $250,000 on DVD screeners
• PR consultants are paid $10k-$15k, plus bonuses of $20k per nomination / win.
• It costs around $3,500 to prepare a Hollywood actress for the red carpet
• Oscar nominated films earn average of $12.7m more than films not nominated
• A ‘Best Picture’ Oscar win is worth $3 million in increased box office gross
• A Golden Globe win is worth $14.2 million
• The non-financial benefits to studios of an Oscar ‘Best Picture’ are worth $7m
• Best Actor winners can expect a $3.9m salary increase
• It’s just $500k for Best Actress winners
• It is possible to predict the Oscar winners with a success rate of 77% for Picture, 93% for Director, 77% for Actor, and 77% for Actress
• Voting on each category is based on proportional representation.

[Reddit]