In a seismic shift for one of television's marquee events, the Academy Awards will depart ABC and begin streaming on YouTube 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.
Starting in 2029, YouTube will retain global rights to streaming the Oscars through 2033 and will effectively be the home to all things Oscars — including red-carpet coverage, the Governors Awards and the Oscar nominations announcement.
Oscar statuettes appear backstage Feb. 28, 2016, at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
"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 Chief Executive Bill Kramer and President Lynette Howell Taylor said. "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 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 about 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."
The Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC was the broadcast home to the Oscars for almost its entire history. NBC first televised the Oscars in 1953, but ABC picked up the rights in 1961. Aside from a period between 1971 and 1975, when NBC again aired the show, the Oscars were on ABC.
"ABC has been the proud home to The Oscars for more than half a century," the network said in a statement. "We look forward to the next three telecasts, including the show's centennial celebration in 2028, and wish the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued success."
The 2025 Academy Awards were watched by 19.7 million viewers on ABC, a slight increase from the year before.
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