On March 2, 2025, Hollywood’s biggest night unfolded as the 97th Academy Awards took center stage. The Oscars are known not only for celebrating the year’s best films but also for unexpected moments, viral speeches, and red carpet glamour—and this year was no exception. From Adrien Brody’s headline-grabbing acceptance speech to Zoe Saldaña’s historic win and the dominance of ‘Anora’ at the awards, the night was packed with moments that sparked widespread conversation.

But beyond the ceremony itself, how did the event translate into online visibility? In this Trisolute News Dashboard analysis, we examined the top-ranked Oscars-related keywords (extracted from Google News and Google Trends) across all mobile ranking types in the US to determine which names, films, and topics captured the most attention. Those ranking types are: News Boxes (Headline, Text, Carousel), Video Boxes, Publisher Carousels, Other Carousels, Web Stories, Featured Snippets, Visual Digests, and Organic Rankings. Across March 2 and 3, 96 Oscar-related keywords ranked, highlighting the event’s major media presence, which we will first analyze in terms of content. Additionally, we will examine the top 5 most visible publishers based on these rankings to see which news outlets dominated the conversation, who led the coverage, and how different publishers approached the event.

Let’s dive into the data!

The most visible keywords for the 2025 Oscars

This list contains the keywords that generated the most rankings on mobile SERPs in the US from 2 to 3 March and fit the Oscars in terms of content. The keywords are sorted in descending order according to the number of rankings. The ranking values, which are part of the analysis below the list of keywords, represent the individual keyword rankings in 15-minute intervals for as long as the keyword was active.

Interesting patterns

High demand for general event queries

Unsurprisingly, broad event-related searches topped the list, with ‘oscars 2025’ (2,660 rankings) being the most ranked keyword. Together, keywords with general terms for the event added up to 6 keywords with 4,771 total rankings, making up 16% of the total amount of rankings (4,771 out of 29,703 rankings). The event’s official name, “Academy Awards”, only appears in two keywords (‘2025 academy awards’, ‘academy awards oscars 2025’) that add up to 438 rankings, so not even a quarter of the amount of rankings for ‘oscars 2025’. In general, keywords containing the term ‘oscar’ or ‘oscars’, e.g., in combination with names of celebrities, make up a large part of the list. 52 out of the 96 keywords fall under that category, adding up to 12,651 rankings (43% of total rankings).

Beyond general searches, some keywords were focused on following the ceremony live, as indicated by keywords like ‘oscars live’ (149 rankings), ‘2025 how to watch’ (187 rankings), ‘how to watch’ (136 rankings), or ‘oscars 2025 how to watch’ (106 rankings). Keywords about winners and results also played a role, with ‘winners’ (418 rankings) and ‘oscar winners 2025’ (383 rankings) ranking notably high. In total, there were 9 keywords focused on the event’s winners, whose rankings added up to 1,679. The keyword ‘oscar nominations 2025’ reached 283 rankings.

Adrien Brody’s standout presence

Among individual celebrities, Adrien Brody dominated searches, generating 2,273 rankings under his name alone. Additional queries like ‘speech adrien brody’ (566 rankings), ‘oscars adrien brody’ (335 rankings), and ‘adrien brody best actor’ (305 rankings) might refer to his 6-minute speech, the controversy around his win, despite his voice having been altered with AI for his winning role, or him openly throwing a piece of chewed gum for his wife to catch before his acceptance speech—probably a combination of all. In total, there were 8 keywords containing the actor’s name, which added up to 4,056 rankings.

Zoe Saldaña and ‘Emilia Pérez’ generated buzz

Zoe Saldaña’s portrayal in “Emilia Pérez” garnered significant attention, reflected in keywords like ‘zoe saldana’ (1,610 rankings), ‘zoe saldaña’ (962 rankings), and ‘zoe saldaña oscar’ (329 rankings). Her role as a lawyer assisting a drug lord’s gender transition in the musical drama led to her winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, making her the first American of Dominican origin to receive this honor. Despite the film’s controversy, including criticism over cultural portrayal, Saldaña addressed these concerns by expressing her openness to discussions for improvement. Her historic win and the surrounding discourse contributed to the high rankings. Six keywords contained her name and added up to 3,234 rankings.

Celebrities’ names as major ranking factors

Besides Brody and Saldaña, many celebrities’s names were featured among the top-ranking keywords for the Oscars. In total, 47 keywords contained a celebrity’s name, adding up to 15,814 rankings, or 53% of total rankings. Some top-ranked names other than the already mentioned Adrien Brody and Zoe Saldaña were Conan O’Brien, who hosted the event (4 keywords, 1,869 rankings), Mikey Madison, who won an Oscar for her role in “Anora” (3 keywords, 1,595 rankings), or Kieran Culkin, who also won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his role in “A Real Pain” (2 keywords, 1,408 rankings).

Movies that dominated the conversation

While individual celebrities and viral moments captured much of the online attention, certain films also stood out in ranking trends. “Anora” emerged as one of the most ranked titles, generating 1,566 rankings and appearing in multiple variations, including ‘anora oscars’ (165 rankings) and ‘anora wins’ (141 rankings). Another standout was “Emilia Pérez”, which gained traction largely due to Zoe Saldaña’s role.

A memorable In Memoriam segment

The Oscars’ In Memoriam tribute was another widely ranked topic, with the keywords ‘oscars in memoriam’ (456 rankings) and ‘oscars in memoriam segment’ (168 rankings) appearing among the list. The keywords ‘michelle trachtenberg oscars in memoriam’ (85 rankings) and ‘gene hackman oscars’ (100 rankings) specifically refer to two celebrities that have recently passed away and were honored at the event’s In Memoriam tribute.

Red carpet fashion and Vanity Fair’s afterparty as key themes

The Oscars’ red carpet remains a focal point for audience engagement, as demonstrated by keywords like ‘oscars 2025 red carpet’ (208 rankings) or ‘oscars red carpet’ (181 rankings). In total, 4 keywords contained the term, which added up to 732 rankings. The keyword ‘red carpet ariana grande’ (146 rankings) is the only one among the list combining a celebrity’s name with the term ‘red carpet’.

Beyond the ceremony, the Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty generated a substantial number of rankings, with the 7 keywords of that category generating a total of 1,310 rankings. ‘giorgio armani pre’ (117 rankings) is the only keyword referring to the Giorgio Armani Pre-Oscars party.

Based on those keywords, let’s now have a look at the top 5 most visible US publishers that reported on the 2025 Oscars:

Top 5 publishers for the 2025 Oscars

Top 5 US publishers on the 2025 Oscars

1. NY Times (nytimes.com)

   As the most visible publisher in Oscars 2025 coverage, NY Times secured 1,403 total rankings. Its most-ranked keyword was ‘oscars 2025’ (217 rankings) reflects a broad event-focused approach. The publisher’s visibility peaked on March 3 at 3 pm. The article that has contributed the most to visibility, “Oscars 2025 Winners List: ‘Anora,’ Mikey Madison, Adrien Brody, Zoe Saldaña“, suggests that NY Times focused on a detailed breakdown of winners, reinforcing its role as a go-to source for factual and full-coverage reporting. The presence of multiple high-profile names in the headline may have contributed to the article’s strong visibility.

2. ABC News (abcnews.go.com)
   Securing second place in terms of visibility, ABC News was able to reach the most rankings amongst the publishers (2,241), with the most-ranked keyword being ‘oscars 2025’ (393 rankings). ABC’s visibility peaked early, on March 3 at 4 am. The article that has contributed the most to visibility, “Oscars 2025: Adrien Brody accepts award for best actor in ‘The Brutalist’“, highlights how Brody’s win became a key focus for the outlet, aligning with high search interest in his name.
3. Yahoo (yahoo.com)
   Yahoo secured 709 total rankings, with ‘oscars 2025’ (102 rankings) as its most-ranked keyword. The publisher’s visibility peaked on March 3 at 7 am. The article that has contributed the most to visibility, “Oscars 2025: ‘Anora’ dominates with 5 Academy Awards, Adrien Brody wins Best Actor for 2nd time and a full list of winners“, suggests that Yahoo capitalized on Anora’s dominance and Brody’s major win.
4. AP News (apnews.com)
   AP News stands out as the fourth most visible publisher, having reached a total of 1,052 rankings, the most-ranked keyword being ‘zoe saldana’ (143 rankings). Unlike other publishers that peaked post-ceremony, AP’s visibility very distinctly peaked on March 2 at 9 am. The article that has contributed the most to visibility, “Zoe Saldaña wins first Oscar, sweeping awards season as best supporting actress in ‘Emilia Pérez’“, focuses on the actress’s win for her supporting role in “Emila Pérez”.
5. NY Post (nypost.com)
   With 591 total rankings and the 5th overall place among the most visible publishers on the Oscars, NY Post also did a tremendous job in covering the event. Its most-ranked keyword, ‘adrien brody’ (107 rankings), as well as the article that has contributed the most to visibility, “Adrien Brody’s nearly 6-minute Oscar speech was insufferable — and yet another eye-roll moment for the actor“, suggest a clear focus on the actor’s much-discussed appearance at the event.

Conclusion: How did the 2025 Oscars turn out from a news SEO perspective?

Do you want to read more entertainment-focused analyses? Then check out this list:

• An overview of the most ranked entertainment keywords and publishers in Germany, the UK, and the US in 2024
• A deep dive into the 2025 Golden Globe Awards for US Publishers
• An analysis of the mobile News Boxes in the UK on the 2025 BAFTAs
• A close look at the 2025 Grammy Awards for US publishers
• An analysis on which US news publishers gained the most visibility in mobile News Boxes for keywords related to the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni controversy.

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