The Oscars are heading to the (very) small screen.

In a move that’s sure to send shockwaves through Hollywood, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has signed a multi-year deal that will give YouTube the exclusive global rights to the Oscars, beginning in 2029 with the 101st ceremony and running through 2033. ABC, where the film industry’s biggest night has aired for decades, has rights to the telecast through 2028.

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The Oscars, including red carpet coverage, behind-the-scenes content and Governors Ball, will be available live and for free on YouTube to viewers around the world, as well as to YouTube TV subscribers in the United States. Architects of the agreement said they hope the move to YouTube will help make the Oscars more accessible to “the Academy’s growing global audience through features such as closed captioning and audio tracks available in multiple languages.”

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“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 CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor, in a joint statement. “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. This collaboration will leverage YouTube’s vast reach and infuse the Oscars and other Academy programming with innovative opportunities for engagement while honoring our legacy. We will be able to celebrate cinema, inspire new generations of filmmakers and provide access to our film history on an unprecedented global scale.” 

“The Oscars are one of our essential cultural institutions, honoring excellence in storytelling and artistry,” said YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. “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 Academy had been seeking a new broadcast licensing agreement for the better part of 2025. Over the summer, several expected and unconventional buyers, including NBCUniversal and Netflix, had come into the mix as potential suitors.

Insiders believe that YouTube shelled out over nine figures for the Oscars, besting the high eight-figure offers from Disney/ABC and NBCUniversal. Under the most recent contract, Disney was paying around $100 million annually for the Oscars — but given the ratings declines for the kudocast, Disney/ABC were reportedly looking to spend less on license fees.

Insiders say Disney execs were surprised to learn that YouTube, a sole streamer and not a linear/streaming combo, won the bid. There was anticipation of the possibility of NBCUniversal grabbing the rights, but insiders weren’t expecting the Oscars to wind up at YouTube.

That’s because YouTube doesn’t have a production infrastructure like the ones that even streamers like Netflix and Amazon have built to produce live events. Granted, YouTube will have three years to put together a team to produce the show. But it’s also possible that the Academy went with the YouTube deal precisely because it could take over full production of the Oscars.

It’s not a secret that the Academy and Disney/ABC would occasionally have disagreements over the best path for the Oscars, including the show’s length, which awards to present and who should host. Now, on a streamer with no time limits, the Oscars can be any length, and the Academy likely has carte blanche to do whatever it wants with the telecast.

“They can do whatever they want,” says one insider. “You can have a six-hour Oscars hosted by MrBeast.”

Several questions remain unanswered — including what happens to the Academy’s international distribution deals for the Oscars, which represented additional license fee and advertising revenue on top of the Disney/ABC deal. In going with YouTube, does the new license fee offset what the Academy was making globally?

Also, it’s unclear how viewership will be measured on YouTube, given that there won’t be the same report card as linear. There’s also the question of YouTube viewers’ attention spans — although videos have grown in length on the service over the years, the spectre of audience members losing attention and going elsewhere on the site also looms large.

At the same time, the Oscars airing on network television are no longer garnering the ratings of yesteryear. Even the infamous incident of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in 2022 only boosted the show to an average 16.6 million viewers — the second-lowest yearly tally ever after the COVID-impacted 2021 Oscars. This year’s 18.1 million viewers, while impressive given the show’s recent history and the decline of linear TV viewing at large, pales in comparison to the days of yore. The most-watched Oscars ever, for example, took place in 1998 and hit 57 million viewers simply because all of America loved “Titanic.”

For Disney/ABC execs, losing the Oscars to YouTube doesn’t sting as hard as it would have been having to see it wind up on a direct competitor like NBCUniversal. Live TV remains a priority for Disney/ABC, having just acquired the Grammys from CBS, and the company notes that in 2027 it will boast the Super Bowl, the Oscars and the Grammys all in one year.

“ABC has been the proud home to The Oscars for more than half a century,” the company 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.”

But the news has left some baffled as to what this might mean to a storied awards show institution, particularly after it celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2028. Will the ceremony have the same impact on a streamer known more for creator content than scripted Hollywood fare?

The move also comes during a challenging time for the film industry in general, and the question of how movies might even be distributed and consumed at the start of the next decade. With the fate of Warner Bros. and its theatrical efforts currently up in the air, and the ongoing debate over theatrical windows, what will an “Oscar movie” mean by the time YouTube takes over the award?

On the flip side, others note that may be exactly why it makes sense to move the show to YouTube — already the most-watched streaming platform. YouTube will likely be even more of a dominant force by that time, and the place to find eyeballs for a major event like the Oscars.

The Oscar move from ABC to YouTube is reminiscent of other paradigm shifts in the industry, including when Fox grabbed NFL rights in 1994 without any sort of sports infrastructure. Fox quickly built Fox Sports, putting the network on the map. YouTube was already on the map — but the Oscar news sends an even clearer signal that they’re a force to be reckoned with.