The Oscars sends shockwaves through Hollywood as it dumps ABC to air exclusively on YOUTUBE
YouTube won the right to broadcast the Oscars after airing them on network TV for decades.
The ceremony will be available to stream live and for free on the platform starting in 2029, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Wednesday.
The move ends ABC’s 50-year career as the exclusive broadcaster of the Academy Awards.
The deal also symbolizes the growing influence of streaming on the film industry.
“We are excited to enter into a multifaceted global partnership with YouTube as the future home of the Oscars and our year-round Academy programming,” said Academy Awards CEO Bill Kramer and President Lynette Howell Taylor.
The duo said the new partnership would ‘allow us to expand access to the Academy’s work to the widest possible audience worldwide’.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan also welcomed the agreement in his statement.
Both sides said the ceremony would be broadcast live and free of charge, with additional access available to YouTube TV users.
YouTube has won the rights to broadcast the Oscars from ABC, the academy said Wednesday. Pictured is frequent 2024 awards host Jimmy Kimmel
This move marks a new era for the film, after 50 years of the ceremony being available only on television. Pictured is Bob Iger, CEO of ABC parent company Disney, with Best Supporting Actor winner Kiernan Culkin at the awards.
Until last month, YouTube TV was locked in a weeks-long stalemate with ABC parent company Disney.
The dispute was a licensing fight that began after Disney said the Google-owned platform refused to pay fair fees to air Disney-owned channels such as ESPN, ABC and FX.
The channels were closed for several weeks until the two reached a vague agreement on November 17.
In its press release on Wednesday, YouTube stated that the awards will be broadcast on YouTube TV.
The ceremony’s ratings have fallen in recent years, with viewership dropping below 20 million. This compared with 57 million viewers in 1998, when Titanic took best picture.
Recurring hosts like Jimmy Kimmel have failed to stem the bleeding made worse by the pandemic.
In an interview with Status last March, Puck’s Matthew Belloni predicted that a streamer like Netflix could possibly snap up the rights to the release, saying, ‘The Academy is already talking to Disney/ABC about a possible remake.’
Netflix acquired the licensing rights to broadcast the SAG Awards from TNT in 2023.
Kate Winslet and Helena Bonham Carter are photographed at the 1998 Oscars, which drew a record-breaking 57 million viewers and was broadcast by ABC.
Vanessa Kirby and Amanda Seyfried at the 2021 Oscar Ceremonies, which were held at the train station due to Covid-19 and watched by only 20 million people
Shared hosting trial where Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall shared the stage fails in 2022
The global reach of Google-owned YouTube could remedy this situation.
The first show of the platform will be the 101st Oscar ceremony.
The series was first broadcast by NBC in 1953. ABC took the reins in the 60s. He lost the rights to NBC in the early ’70s before regaining them in 1976.
Before Conan O’Brien last year, Kimmel hosted the ceremony for two years. He also hosted the show in 2017 and 2018.
A shared hosting experiment spearheaded by Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall failed in 2022, reaching a record low viewership of 16 million.
Three years ago, the Academy eliminated a homestand altogether, a decision that destroyed decades of tradition.
In 2018, the Hollywood Reporter called the once sought-after job the ‘least sought-after job in Hollywood.’
Billy Crystal hosted the Oscars nine times in the ’90s and 2000s, with much better results.
