Oscars jump to YouTube after decades at ABC

The Oscars are the first major award show to take the streaming leap

(Image credit: Michael Buckner / Variety via Getty Images)

What happened

The Academy Awards will be broadcast worldwide on YouTube beginning in 2029, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday. ABC, which has broadcast the Oscars exclusively since 1976, will continue doing so until the 100th Academy Awards in 2028.

Who said what

The Oscars will be the first major award show to “completely jettison broadcast television,” The Associated Press said. Putting “one of the most watched non-NFL broadcasts in the hands of Google” is a “seismic shift” for Hollywood and the media industry. YouTube “secured Oscars rights in a bidding war that reportedly included competitors such as ABC, NBC and, at one point, Netflix,” The Washington Post said.

ABC “did not want to overpay,” after finding it “harder in recent years to turn a profit from the show,” Reuters said. This year’s Oscars drew 19.7 million viewers on ABC, a “five-year high” but far fewer than the record 57 million in 1998. YouTube is believed to have “shelled out over nine figures for the Oscars,” Variety said, citing insiders. Disney was “surprised” the “sole streamer” won the bidding war, but losing to YouTube “doesn’t sting as hard” as if a “direct competitor” like NBC had prevailed.

What next?

YouTube will stream the Oscars, “including red carpet coverage, behind-the-scenes content and Governors Ball,” live and “free of charge” from 2029 through at least 2033, Variety said. “There will continue to be commercials.” Nominations for the 2026 Oscars, hosted by Conan O’Brien, will be announced Jan. 22. Without ABC’s production control, the Academy “can do whatever they want” in 2029, one insider told Variety. “You can have a six-hour Oscars hosted by MrBeast.”

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.