The Oscars Will Leave ABC and Stream on YouTube Starting in the Year 2029.
The Oscars ceremony are set to start airing only on YouTube in 2029, representing the newest significant transformation in Hollywood.
The organization behind the Oscars made the announcement on Wednesday, confirming that it finalized a long-term agreement granting the streaming service the unique international license to the Oscars up to 2033.
The Oscars, set for March 15th, has been broadcast for a half a century on the traditional network. Beginning in 2029, the ceremony will be accessible as a free live stream on YouTube.
It's one more major shakeup in the entertainment world, which is navigating corporate acquisitions and consolidations, coupled with drastic reductions in filming.
"The Academy is an global institution, and this partnership will permit us to broaden reach to the work of the Academy to the biggest global viewership imaginable - which will be advantageous for our film artists and the film community," stated the Academy's executives in a announcement.
Throughout a long period, viewership of the televised event have declined, although there was a slight uptick in recent years, with a significant number of Gen Z and millennial watchers streaming from mobile devices and computers.
In a corresponding announcement, the video platform's chief executive referred to the Oscars "among our vital pillars of culture" and said that partnering with the Academy would "inspire a younger cohort of creativity and cinema enthusiasts while staying true to the Oscars' illustrious legacy".
ABC, which has streamed the ceremony since 1976, said that it was eagerly anticipating "to the next three telecasts" it will retain rights for.
The move coincides with large entertainment companies confront challenging merger discussions. Such proposals were seen as concerning for an business that has seen drastic cuts over the past several years.
Similar to big production houses, cable networks have encountered challenges as the audience has increasingly opted for digital platforms instead.
The platform securing the license to the Academy Awards clearly signals that dependence on digital platforms will persist expanding.
