The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that Hollywood’s biggest night will no longer air on traditional TV. Instead, it will be streamed only on YouTube, ending a long relationship with ABC that has lasted for decades.
Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said they are excited about the shift, calling YouTube the future home of the Oscars and other Academy programming throughout the year.
For the first time ever, the Oscars will be streaming-only.
The awards show, known for celebrating the best films of the year and bringing the world’s biggest stars together in Los Angeles, is usually watched by around 20 million Americans, plus millions more worldwide.
ABC’s current deal was set to end in 2028, with the 100th Academy Awards. Disney-owned ABC will continue broadcasting the show until then.
But the new agreement with Google-owned YouTube signals a major change — not just for the Oscars, but for Hollywood as a whole.
The film industry has been struggling in recent years, especially as younger audiences move away from traditional TV and toward streaming platforms.
The most recent Oscars drew 19.69 million viewers. That number was helped by the ceremony being shown live on Hulu at the same time as ABC for the first time. Disney called it the most-watched Oscars in five years.
Still, the Hulu stream wasn’t perfect. Technical problems caused some viewers to miss the final awards.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Oscars viewership fell even further, dropping to just 10.4 million.
That’s a sharp contrast to the past. Just ten years ago, the Oscars regularly pulled in more than 40 million viewers.
By moving to YouTube, the Academy is clearly betting on where audiences are heading — not where they used to be.
