If I was in charge of awards season, at this point, I would stop having so many award shows. The oversaturation of “awards shows” makes the big shows less important, less special. It feels like most of the awards contenders are just grimly marching to the Oscars after a whirlwind three-month campaign. Oscar winners have that thousand-yard stare in the press room after their wins. And then there’s the problem with the Oscar telecast itself – always too long, always too padded, always lagging in the middle. The goalposts have shifted in recent years – wanting higher ratings but preferring to be, at best, unmemorable slogs in service of offending no one. The biggest, most memorable Oscar moment of the past decade was hastily edited out of the live American broadcast – that was when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage in 2022. That edit and everything that happened afterwards on the show should have been a ratings bonanza, but it was treated like the worst thing that ever happened! Well, now a further degradation for the biggest award show of the year. Starting in 2029, the Oscar telecast will not appear on ABC or any network. It’s going to YouTube.
In a seismic shift for one of television’s marquee events, the Academy Awards will depart ABC and begin streaming on YouTube beginning in 2029, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday. ABC will continue to broadcast the annual ceremony through 2028. That year will mark the 100th Oscars.
But starting in 2029, YouTube will retain global rights to streaming the Oscars through 2033. YouTube will effectively be the home to all things Oscars, including red-carpet coverage, the Governors Awards and the Oscar nominations announcement.
“We are thrilled to enter into a multifaceted global partnership with YouTube to be the future home of the Oscars and our year-round Academy programming,” said academy chief executive Bill Kramer and academy president Lynette Howell Taylor. “The Academy is an international organization, and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience possible — which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the film community.”
While major award shows have added streaming partnerships, the YouTube deal marks the first of the big four — the Oscars, Grammys, Emmys and Tonys — to completely jettison broadcast television. It puts one of the most watched non-NFL broadcasts in the hands of Google. YouTube boasts some 2 billion viewers.
The Academy Awards will stream for free worldwide on YouTube, in addition to YouTube TV subscribers. It will be available with audio tracks in many languages, in addition to closed captioning. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“The Oscars are one of our essential cultural institutions, honoring excellence in storytelling and artistry,” said Neal Mohan, chief executive of YouTube. “Partnering with the academy to bring this celebration of art and entertainment to viewers all over the world will inspire a new generation of creativity and film lovers while staying true to the Oscars’ storied legacy.”
What is AMPAS thinking? My concern was always that ABC had such a chokehold on the rights to the Oscar telecast that eventually Disney would put the Oscars on Disney+ for subscribers only. Like, that was MY nightmare scenario. Putting it on YouTube is more egalitarian, for sure. But it also diminishes the Oscars. It turns the biggest, most significant awards show into something barely higher than a podcast or reaction video.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Jimmy Kimmel hosts the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762329065, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: LCY / Avalon
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- Jamie Lee Curtis accepts the Oscar® for Actress in a Supporting Role during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762338300, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: SDS / Avalon
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- Host Jimmy Kimmel on stage during the live ABC telecast of the 95th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 12, 2023.,Image: 762344491, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Blaine Ohigashi / Avalon
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- Cillian Murphy poses backstage with the Oscar® for Actor in a Leading Role during the live ABC telecast of the 96th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 10, 2024.,Image: 855772272, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Conan O’Brien hosts the live ABC telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971245289, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Los Angeles first responders onstage with Conan O’Brien during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971247657, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Conan O’Brien hosts the live ABC telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971249247, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Conan O’Brien hosts the live ABC telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971252543, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Cullen pose backstage with their Oscars® at the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971253462, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
The can hide viewship numbers. They dont make movies for different demographics anymore, shoehorn bad actors in everything, and most stories are badly told. I see youtube as a way to do what they want with little pushback.
Wonder how long this will last? How many big stars, even up for the big awards, will go to be seen on YOUTUBE?? I can see newbies, or B listers hoping for a step up, but the *big* guns* ?? Nah. I don’t see it. I used to love the Red Carpet with Joan Rivers, after her passing, it just nose-dived into brown nosing sycophants with a mic.
Don’t think I’ll be watching this.
I actually don’t have a problem with this. It’s been clear for a long time that the Oscars can’t go back to the early days of exclusivity and the glamour of seeing favorite actors “live” only once a year. They’re on social media every day now.
I hate the current hybrid model of showing only certain awards and then relegating others to some obscure backwater. And I think the bloated 4-hour show could be picked apart and enhanced in separate segments. There’s so much possible content – like the “In Memoriam” could be a separate video with examples of the deceased’s achievements. Or, a more in-depth look at the costume designers and behind the scenes. I’d watch the heck out of an Oscar channel.
I watch more YouTube than I do streaming or anything on the networks. We have YouTube TV mainly for the sports but my husband watches that more than I do. It’s a different world now.
Same here, I don’t even own a TV.
I dont know how to watch anything on youtube besides NFL games (and those are always glitchy.) I mean I know how to watch a travel or how to video lol, but people say they watch whole series on Youtube and I can never find those. Do I need YouTube TV For that kind of thing?
Just go to the menu on YouTube and pick Movies and TV. Some things you have to pay for but if you like those cheesy Christmas romances, they have a ton of those for free. For TV shows you can pay per episode or buy the whole series if you want.
For years, I just watched YouTube for free and then decided to pay for Premium because it wasn’t any more expensive than the streamers and I don’t have to watch commercials. There are whole channels devoted to obscure or classic movies, forgotten British TV shows, historical cooking, museum and academic lectures, all the fashion runway shows as soon as they happen, live network news, etc.
Now they can make it 4 hours long by inserting ads after every award. No thanks. The SAG awards (or whatever their new name is) are already on Netflix. The Globes will be the next one to be booted off TV.
They already do that in the broadcast show.
yeah but they make such a fuss when they run over.
I actually think it is low-key brilliant. They can reach a larger audience putting it on youtube. I cut the cord several years back. I don’t even have abc anymore. But anyone can access youtube.
I have a feeling for the top categories they will be more flexible with speeches and allowed time. If it will be like Netflix live events. No set end time for streaming. With the smaller categories with limited time.
Honestly it might help viewership since so many do not watch traditional television.
Thinking YouTube is “lesser” is showing the generational gap (coming from an older millennial myself). I can’t say that I know anyone under 70 that watches actual network TV. It would always be thru a streaming service. I bet people 30 and under couldn’t even tell you SNL was on NBC. We already got YouTubeTV for my 75+ parents years ago.
I actually think this makes sense. The Oscars were already diminished long before YouTube — broadcast TV is dying, and the media landscape is completely fragmented. Celebrities aren’t distant or elite anymore; they’re on social media every day. The mystique is already gone.
Moving to YouTube is a realistic response to declining ratings and a global audience that doesn’t watch linear TV. People can watch on their own time, and access isn’t locked behind a subscription. And honestly, it’s probably healthy to stop treating entertainment awards as sacred institutions. We don’t elevate teachers or firefighters this way.
YouTube is bigger than ABC, now, no?
Based on the fact that MILLIONS have cut the cord to cable & access to TRADITIONAL network channels…this move is…inevitable & I ❤️ it! For DECADES I paid hundreds a month to have access to cable platform networks…for the past 2 years I have darn near watched YouTube EXCLUSIVELY…no one in entertainment who values their pockets should look at this as a “downgrade”…✨️🎬✨️
I actually love this idea! (As long as it’s not a paid subscription thing!) I’ll tune in for certain. Maybe they can start earlier, allow speeches to go a bit longer of needed, allow swearing. Could be fun!
I actually do like the idea. I would watch