The Oscars will move to YouTube in 2029, leaving longtime home of ABC
[December 18, 2025]
By JAKE COYLE
In a seismic shift for one of television’s marquee events, the Academy
Awards will depart ABC and begin streaming on YouTube beginning 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.
But starting in 2029, YouTube will retain global rights to streaming the
Oscars through 2033. YouTube will effectively be the home to all things
Oscars, including red-carpet coverage, the Governors Awards and the
Oscar nominations announcement.
“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,” said academy chief executive Bill Kramer and academy
president Lynette Howell Taylor. “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 have 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
some 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.”
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Oscar statuettes appear backstage at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre
in Los Angeles on Feb. 28, 2016. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP,
File)
 The Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC has
been 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 have been 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. That remains one of the
biggest TV broadcasts of the year, though less than half of Oscar
ratings at their peak. In 1999, more than 55 million watched James
Cameron's “Titanic” win best picture.
The film academy, in choosing YouTube over other options such as
Netflix or NBC Universal/Peacock, selected a platform with a
wide-ranging and massive audience but one without as much of an
established production infrastructure.
Still, more people — especially young people — watch YouTube than
any other streaming platform. According to Nielsen, YouTube
accounted for 12.9% of all television and streaming content consumed
in November. Netflix ranked second with an 8.3% market share.
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