YouTube Wins Rights to Host the Oscars Starting in 2029

After nearly 50 years on ABC, Hollywood’s biggest night finds a new global stage, marking a major shift in awards season and the streaming wars.

After more than half a century on broadcast television, Hollywood’s biggest night is heading to a new stage.

What’s Happening:

  • According to Deadline, YouTube has secured the rights to host the Academy Awards beginning in 2029, marking a historic shift for the Oscars and a major escalation in the streaming wars. 
  • The Google-owned platform outbid several contenders including longtime broadcast partner ABC to become the future home of the ceremony, ending an era that began in 1976.
  • YouTube’s first telecast will be the 101st Academy Awards, with the deal running through 2033. Disney’s current agreement with the Academy concludes after the 2028 ceremony, which will also mark the Oscars’ centennial celebration.
  • The move represents a seismic change in how one of the entertainment industry’s most prestigious events will be presented and who will present it. ABC has been synonymous with the Oscars for nearly 50 years, modernizing the broadcast in recent years while navigating declining linear viewership and the evolving nature of awards-season films.
  • According to sources familiar with the negotiations, the Academy’s financial expectations and YouTube’s aggressive bid ultimately outpaced what Disney was willing to offer. While ABC expressed pride in its long-running partnership, the economics of the deal no longer aligned.
  • For YouTube, the acquisition is a landmark win. Already the world’s largest video platform, the service continues to push deeper into premium live events and cultural tentpoles. The Oscars deal places YouTube alongside other streamers making aggressive plays for awards programming—Netflix currently holds the rights to the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
  • Academy leadership framed the partnership as both a global expansion and a generational opportunity.
  • They added that the collaboration will leverage YouTube’s reach to introduce innovative forms of engagement while still honoring the Oscars’ legacy, celebrating cinema, and providing unprecedented access to film history.
  • As the Academy prepares for its final years on ABC and a centennial broadcast in 2028, the countdown has officially begun toward a new era. Starting in 2029, the red carpet, the envelopes, and Hollywood’s biggest moments will unfold on a platform built not on broadcast tradition, but on global digital scale.

What They’re Saying:

  • ABC Entertainment spokesperson: “ABC has been the proud home to The Oscars for more than half a century. We look forward to the next three telecasts, including the show’s centennial celebration in 2028, and wish the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued success.”
  • Bill Kramer, Academy CEO and Lynette Howell Taylor, Academy President: “We are thrilled to enter into a multifaceted global partnership with YouTube to be the future home of the Oscars and our year-round Academy programming. The Academy is an international organization, and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience possible.”

More Movie News: