The Oscars Will Leave ABC and Stream on the Video Platform Beginning in the Year 2029.
The Academy Awards will begin broadcasting solely on YouTube in 2029, representing the most recent significant shift in the film industry.
The organization behind the Oscars made the announcement on this week, confirming that it finalized a multi-year deal giving YouTube the unique international license to the Oscars until 2033.
The awards show, which is planned for March 15th, has aired for a half a century on ABC. Beginning in 2029, the ceremony will be viewable in real-time without charge on YouTube.
It's one more significant restructuring in Hollywood, which is dealing with company buyouts and fusions, coupled with drastic slashes to movie budgets.
"Our Academy represents an global institution, and this alliance will allow us to broaden reach to the mission of the Academy to the most extensive international crowd possible - which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the cinematic world," remarked the Academy's executives in a release.
Throughout a long period, ratings of the awards show have declined, although there was a small rise in 2025, with a considerable amount of youthful audiences tuning in from mobile devices and computers.
In a separate statement, YouTube's CEO called the Oscars "among our essential cultural institutions" and said that working with the Academy would "inspire a younger cohort of artistic expression and movie fans while staying true to the Oscars' illustrious history".
ABC, which has streamed the ceremony since 1976, said that it was eagerly anticipating "to hosting the event three more times" it will retain rights for.
This shift follows film industry giants deal with challenging merger discussions. Such proposals were considered unfavourable for an industry that has witnessed drastic cuts over the last few years.
In common with big production houses, traditional TV channels have faced issues as the audience has shifted towards digital platforms as an alternative.
YouTube winning broadcasting rights to the Oscars further suggests that the dominance of digital platforms will continue increasing.
