Oman today_ The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that starting in 2029, the Oscar Awards ceremony will be streamed for free on YouTube. The multi-year agreement covers the 101st ceremony through 2033 and will make the red carpet, behind-the-scenes coverage, and the Governors’ Ball accessible to audiences around the world. Previously, ABC held the broadcasting rights, which it will retain until 2028.
The Academy stated that the partnership aims to increase global access to the Oscars and emphasized that features like subtitles and multilingual audio will make the ceremony easier to watch for international audiences. The Academy’s CEO and president said that YouTube will become the “home of the future” for the Oscars, allowing the Academy’s programs and content to reach the widest global audience possible.
Reports indicate that YouTube has signed a nine-figure deal with the Academy, offering a better proposal than Disney and NBCUniversal. Disney previously paid around $100 million annually to broadcast the ceremony, but viewership had been declining.
The Academy now has greater flexibility in designing the event and can adjust its format and duration as it sees fit, and viewership on YouTube is expected to surpass the 18.1 million viewers of the previous ceremony. The most-watched Oscars ceremony in history took place in 1998, drawing 57 million viewers, when Titanic won multiple awards.
The 98th Oscars ceremony will be held on March 15 and will be hosted for the second consecutive year.