Hollywood’s most prestigious awards ceremony is leaving traditional television behind and moving to a digital platform.
Beginning in 2029, the Academy Awards will stream live and free worldwide on YouTube under a new multiyear agreement between the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the video platform, marking a seismic shift for an awards show that has been synonymous with broadcast television for half a century.
The deal, announced Wednesday, gives YouTube exclusive global rights to the Oscars starting with the 101st ceremony in 2029 and running through 2033. This ends a five-decade partnership with ABC and makes the Academy Awards the most prominent entertainment awards show to abandon a major broadcast network in favor of a streaming platform.
The show, including red carpet coverage and behind-the-scenes access, will stream live on YouTube around the world, with U.S. viewers also able to watch via YouTube TV, the company’s cable replacement service.
For the Oscars, which have struggled with declining viewership and diminished cultural relevance since their ratings peak in the mid-1990s, the move to YouTube offers the potential to reach a far wider audience than possible on any broadcast network.
The 2025 telecast, hosted by Conan O’Brien, attracted roughly 19.7 million viewers across ABC and digital platforms. While this represented an uptick from the previous year, it remains a fraction of the 40-plus million who tuned in during the 1990s and early 2000s when the Oscars routinely ranked among television’s most-watched events.
This decline has been mirrored across awards shows as broadcast viewership erodes and fans increasingly turn to streaming services and social media clips rather than sitting through lengthy telecasts. YouTube counts more than 2 billion logged-in users monthly and is available in nearly every market worldwide, providing a reach no broadcast network can match.
In a joint statement, Academy Chief Executive Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said the partnership reflects the increasingly international focus of the organization, which has expanded and diversified its membership in recent years by bringing in more members from outside the United States.
“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,” they said. “We will be able to celebrate cinema, inspire new generations of filmmakers and provide access to our film history on an unprecedented global scale.”
YouTube Chief Executive Neal Mohan described the Oscars as “one of our essential cultural institutions” and said the partnership would help introduce the ceremony to new audiences around the world while “staying true to the Oscars’ storied legacy.”
The timing reflects a broader transformation in the viewing landscape. This year marked a historic milestone as streaming surpassed broadcast and cable to account for the largest share of television viewing for the first time.
YouTube, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, has consistently ranked as the single largest destination for viewers, according to Nielsen ratings data. In October, YouTube, including its core video platform and YouTube TV, accounted for nearly 13 percent of all television viewing, Nielsen reported. Disney’s networks, including ESPN, ABC and Disney Plus, ranked second with a combined 11.4 percent share.
YouTube’s growing influence also extends into traditional pay television. YouTube TV is currently the nation’s third-largest pay-TV distributor, with about 10 million subscribers, trailing only Comcast and Charter Communications’ Spectrum service. Industry analysts expect YouTube TV to surpass both companies within the next few years, meaning that by the time the Oscars move in 2029, YouTube could be the dominant platform for traditional television viewing as well.
The Oscars’ move to YouTube comes amid a broader realignment among awards shows as they seek larger audiences on streaming platforms. The Golden Globes air on CBS and stream on Paramount Plus. The Primetime Emmys continue rotating among broadcast networks like CBS while also streaming on Paramount Plus. The Screen Actors Guild Awards, now called the Actor Awards, have streamed in recent years on Netflix, which some had considered a potential future home for the Oscars.
The shift also underscores the tech industry’s deepening influence in Hollywood’s infrastructure. In recent years, major studios and cultural institutions have become part of larger tech platforms. Amazon acquired MGM in 2022, and Netflix is currently pursuing an $82.7 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. film and TV studios, HBO and HBO Max.
The agreement makes YouTube the exclusive worldwide home for other Academy programming as well, including the Governors Awards, Oscar nominations announcements, and the Student Academy Awards.
Beyond the live broadcast, the agreement establishes a long-term digital hub for cinema history. Through the Google Arts & Culture initiative, the partnership will provide digital access to select Academy Museum exhibitions and programs.
Most significantly, Google will help digitize portions of the Academy Collection, the largest film-related archive in the world, which houses more than 52 million items. By making these artifacts accessible to a global audience for the first time, the Academy and YouTube aim to create a permanent “hub for film fans” that extends the brand far beyond a single night of awards.
For broadcast networks straining to remain relevant in the digital media environment, the Oscars represents the biggest television event yet to move exclusively to a streaming platform. The move could signal that other properties delivering mass audiences may also abandon traditional venues.
