The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has inked a deal with YouTube that will give the video-streaming platform exclusive rights to broadcast the Oscars beginning in 2029, until 2033.
Deal between academy and YouTube was announced on Wednesday
Abby Hughes · CBC News
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has inked a deal with YouTube that will give the video-streaming platform exclusive rights to broadcast the Oscars beginning in 2029, until 2033.
The deal will make the Oscars available to more than two billion viewers worldwide and to YouTube TV subscribers in the U.S., according to a news statement.
It includes streaming rights to behind-the-scenes content and red carpet coverage, as well as other academy events, like the Governors Awards and Oscars nominee announcements, which will be available on the Oscars YouTube channel.
The awards will also be available with audio tracks in many languages, in addition to closed captioning.
Financial terms were not disclosed. A broadcasting partner also wasn’t named, making it unclear whether — and if so, where — the award show would be available to watch on broadcast TV.
“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,” said academy president Lynette Howell Taylor and CEO Bill Kramer.
“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 CEO Neal Mohan said partnering with the academy would help them inspire creatives around the world “while staying true to the Oscars’ storied legacy.”
The Disney ABC broadcast of the Oscars will continue until 2028 — the 100th iteration of the awards — as will the academy’s international partnership with Disney’s Buena Vista International.
The deal is a big shakeup for a major Hollywood touchstone, and comes at a time when the film industry is already undergoing big changes with the transition to streaming and the fight to acquire Warner Bros.
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Paramount Skydance made a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery for $108 billion US just days after Netflix announced it made a $72-billion US deal with the legacy studio. It’s a move that even has U.S. President Donald Trump weighing in.
Disney-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 Oscars marked a five-year viewership high, with 19.7 million viewers total, Disney said at the time. Those awards were streamed digitally for the first time on Hulu — though that came with some hiccups, according to some viewers, who reported the site was down just before the best picture winner was announced.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abby Hughes is a writer with CBC News based in Toronto. She came to the city to study journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University and has been here ever since. She covers news from the worlds of business, entertainment, health, science and education, and her favourite stories focus on the real people in those areas — the customers, fans, patients, citizens and students. You can reach her with story ideas at ab*********@*bc.ca.
With files from the Associated Press