The Oscars Will Leave ABC and Broadcast Live on YouTube Starting in 2029.
The Academy Awards will commence broadcasting solely on the global video platform in the year 2029, marking the most recent significant change in Hollywood.
The organization behind the Oscars revealed the news on this week, confirming that it entered into a long-term agreement awarding YouTube the unique international license to the Oscars up to 2033.
The Oscars, set for 15 March, has been televised for five decades on ABC. Commencing in 2029, the event will be accessible as a free live stream on YouTube.
It's a further major restructuring in the entertainment world, which is dealing with corporate acquisitions and consolidations, along with drastic production cuts.
"Our Academy represents an worldwide body, and this partnership will enable us to increase availability to the work of the Academy to the most extensive international crowd attainable - which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the cinematic world," stated Academy leadership in a release.
Over decades, audience numbers of the ceremony have dropped, although there was a minor increase in 2025, with a significant number of Gen Z and millennial watchers watching from cell phones and computers.
In a corresponding announcement, the video platform's chief executive described the Oscars "one of our essential cultural institutions" and noted that working with the Academy would "inspire a fresh wave of artistic expression and movie fans while adhering to the Oscars' celebrated history".
ABC, which has televised the ceremony since the mid-1970s, said that it was eagerly anticipating "to the upcoming broadcasts" it will retain rights for.
This shift follows large entertainment companies confront challenging merger discussions. Both options were viewed as problematic for an industry that has seen severe reductions over the recent period.
Similar to big production houses, traditional TV channels have encountered challenges as the audience has chosen streaming services instead.
YouTube winning broadcasting rights to the Academy Awards clearly signals that dependence on streaming sites will persist expanding.
