- The Academy and YouTube sign an agreement for the Oscars
- The 101st edition of the Oscars will be broadcast on YouTube
- The event has been broadcast on ABC for almost 50 years.
And the Oscar goes to… YouTube. Video streaming giant Google just secured the 2029 Academy Awards and the red carpet events surrounding it. The broadcast will leave Disney-owned ABC, its home since 1976.
It’s a great time for broadcast television and, perhaps, an unfortunate sign of the times for linear, aka. television broadcast. This year alone, streaming surpassed the combined viewership of broadcast and cable (the split is 44.1% for pair and 44.8% for streaming), according to Nielsen.
Live events like the Oscars and sports have been one of the ways linear TV still wins, but streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, Apple and others have partnered with major sports leagues to bring live games to their platforms (Apple has MLB and MLS, Amazon Prime has some NFL games). Until now, however, awards shows have stuck to streaming and cable. In recent years, Disney has also streamed the Oscars on Disney+ and Hulu.
According to a statement from the Academy, which organizes and hosts the Oscars and the Oscar show, YouTube will begin hosting the show in 2029 with the 101st Oscars and will continue to do so until 2033.
“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,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said in the statement.
Programming will include the annual nominee announcement, red carpet, Governor’s Ball and other behind-the-scenes content.
Perhaps most importantly for Oscar fans, the Oscars show will stream live and free on YouTube, as well as for YouTube TV subscribers.
Opening that envelope
After years of declining viewership, ABC and the Academy made some adjustments to the show in 2024, including moving up the show’s start time to an earlier time, resulting in its largest viewership since 2020.
19.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen, seems like a lot, but YouTube has 2.7 billion monthly active users. In other words, the potential reach may be much greater than the Oscars’ seemingly dwindling linear television opportunities. However, the shift to YouTube will likely change viewing habits and cause some confusion among long-time Oscars fans who may not realize, for example, that they need a smart TV and running the YouTube app to watch the 2029 event.
Naturally, this may not matter much, for example, to Generation Z, who rarely watch broadcast television and are equally happy to consume shows on their smartphones or tablets.
As for what happens when the deal ends, Google and the Academy could be back in business, or Disney could come back with a more attractive streaming deal on Disney+. Similarly, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV could see an opening.
The point is that all bets are off for the future of the iconic show, and linear television may never be the same again.
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