Yeah, I suspect one reason the Oscars still have cachet is that it props up relevance of critics in an age when rotten tomatoes has commoditized them and social media WoM can do an end run around their opinions at the box office. Oscar candidacy is a rare thing they still shape.
I don't think this is true at all. It's more that the Oscar are a stamp of approval by the industry, and thus can be used to sell tickets (how successfully?).