The entertainment industry’s most famous awards show is heading to streaming. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced that the Academy Awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards, will be broadcast exclusively on YouTube starting in 2029. The new deal means the awards show is abandoning its long-standing partnership with ABC (owned by frequent Oscar heavyweight The Walt Disney Company), although the Academy Awards will continue to air on the network until its 100th anniversary in 2028.
The Academy Awards will be joined by other Academy events and programs on the Academy Awards YouTube channel, including “the Governors’ Awards, Academy Award Nominations Announcements, Academy Award Nominees Luncheon, Student Academy Awards, Science and Technology Awards, Academy Member and Filmmaker Interviews, Film Education Programs, Podcasts and more,” AMPAS says. The Google Arts & Culture initiative will also digitize artifacts from the Academy’s collection and help provide online digital access as part of the new partnership.
“We are thrilled to enter into a multi-faceted global partnership with YouTube to become the future home of the Academy Awards and our year-round Academy programming,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said in announcing the new deal with YouTube. “The Academy is an international organization and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the Academy’s work to the widest possible global audience, which will benefit our Academy members and the film community.”
Awards shows have struggled to find their footing in the streaming era, partly because they already catered to a niche audience, even when televised broadcasting was the norm. Before the Oscars were released on YouTube, Netflix secured the rights to stream the SAG Awards in 2023, an acting-focused awards show that is often seen as a precursor to the Oscars.
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