JUST IN: The Oscars Will Move Exclusively to YouTube in Seismic Industry Shift

(Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)

The Oscars will leave longtime partner ABC after the 100th Academy Awards in 2028. Starting in 2029, YouTube will be the exclusive home of the show.

The seismic move was reported on Wednesday afternoon by Variety. According to the report, the deal between YouTube and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will initially run through 2033. By the time the ABC deal runs out, the Oscars will have been televised on the network for more than half a century.

The Academy reportedly had a handful of other big-name suitors for the Oscars. Included in the list were NBCUniversal and Netflix.

YouTube will broadcast the awards show globally for free. As noted in Variety’s reporting, the deal also includes a slew of other related programming:

The Oscars, including red carpet coverage, behind-the-scenes content and Governors Ball, will be available live and for free 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.”

Variety, citing Nielsen data, also noted that YouTube has been the “most-connected TV app in the U.S. and abroad for the past two years.”

The Oscars has yet to achieve viewership anywhere near its pre-pandemic mark of more than 24 million. Still, 2025’s show was a relative success — earning the largest audience since 2020 with approximately 19.69 viewers.