The Oscars is heading to YouTube

ITV and ABC binned off?

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HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 16: An Oscar statue is displayed during the 16th Governors Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom on November 16, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
(Image credit: Kevin Winter via Getty Images)

Streamers are taking over. Netflix is in line to acquire Warner Bros. and now the Oscars will be broadcast exclusively on YouTube.

Well, from 2029 anyway.

At present, the Oscars ceremony is broadcast on ABC in the US. But a new deal with the Academy means it will instead be shown on YouTube, with a 4-year deal securing the rights from 2029 to 2033.

It’s a play to keep the awards ceremony relevant among a younger audience, many of whom of course watch on their phones rather than on TV.

“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,” says Academy CEO Bill Kramer.

Growing popularity?

Despite this sentiment, the Oscars has actually seen increasing viewing figures in recent years. The 2025 show was 1% up on 2024. That year was 4% up. And 2023 saw a massive 12% increase from 2022.

2025’s 19.7 million viewers figure is still miles off what the Oscars achieved just in 2019, though — 29.56 million.

Here in the UK, we could watch the ceremony via ITV in 2025, but we too will be YouTube bound from 2029. Still a few years to go, though eh?

According to the Hollywood Reporter, there have been clashes between ABC and the Academy on things like how many categories there should be in the Oscars, and how long the televised show should actually last. And no doubt Google parent company Alphabet, which owns YouTube, has paid a fortune for these rights.

As yet, we’ve not heard how large that figure is.

The deal includes not just the show itself but the Governors Ball, coverage on the red carpet and other behind-the-scenes stuff.

According to a recent Ofcom report, YouTube was the second most-watched service in the UK in 2024, just behind the BBC. And the average viewer spent 39 minutes a day on the platform.

The Oscars hit its viewing peak in 1998, when the viewing audience in the US alone topped 55 million according to Nielsen. A long time ago. A different world.

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Andrew Williams
Andrew Williams
Contributor

Andrew Williams has written about all sorts of stuff for more than a decade — from tech and fitness to entertainment and fashion. He has written for a stack of magazines and websites including Wired, TrustedReviews, TechRadar and Stuff, enjoys going to gigs and painting in his spare time. He's also suspiciously good at poker.

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