Will we be watching the 2029 Academy Awards on YouTube?
That’s one possibility as streaming and broadcast giants position themselves to potentially take over as the streaming and broadcast home of the Oscars after ABC’s contract with the academy ends in 2028. According to a Bloomberg newsletter, Google’s YouTube is now in the running as a potential Oscars suitor, joining companies such as Netflix and NBCUniversal as a possible new home for the awards.
Like Netflix, YouTube has been increasingly become interested in hosting major live events such as NFL Sunday Ticket, which moved there in 2023. Of course, it’s also possible that ABC, which is owned by Disney, will renew its contract. The network has aired the Oscars since 1976.
But reports since earlier this year suggest that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been exploring other options, either to find a new place for the Oscars or as a negotiating ploy.
While it’s still a big live event, the awards show’s ratings have diminished over the last 10 years, though the 2025 ceremony had the highest viewership in five years. This year’s Oscars were shown on Hulu as well as ABC.
Could it really happen?
Within the entertainment industry, the Oscars remain an enormously important awards show, no matter where they’re broadcast.
“The Oscars broadcast remains the highest achievement for creative professionals. A career experiences immediate transformation after someone receives an Oscar win or even just a nomination,” says Leo Romaire, a special-effects veteran who worked on Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein and who is the founder of Romaire Studios.
“The broadcast maintains its importance because it functions as a worldwide platform for cinematic artistry despite declining box office earnings and award show ratings,” Romaire says. “If the Oscars want to stay relevant, meeting viewers where they are makes sense.”
It would also, Romaire says, “reinforce the reality that the future of entertainment distribution is no longer tied to movie theaters or legacy TV.”
The Academy may also be looking for ways to split up a broadcasting deal among multiple players instead of relying on one entity such as Netflix or YouTube.
“I’d guess that the Academy will find a way — much as professional sports leagues like the NFL do — to parcel out rights by platform, so perhaps any streaming element would live alongside a broadcast,” says Seth Schachner, managing director at Strat Americas, a communications consultancy firm.
“I’d also bet advertising weighs heavily on any decision here as there’s a big, if old, advertising ecosystem that big awards shows like the Oscars survive on,” Schachner says.