🔗 Share this article

The Academy Awards will commence streaming exclusively on YouTube in the year 2029, representing the latest major change in Hollywood.

The organization behind the Oscars made the announcement on this week, indicating that it signed a extended contract giving the streaming service the exclusive global rights to the Oscars until 2033.

The Oscars, set for March 15th, has aired for five decades on ABC. Starting in 2029, the event will be available as a free live stream on the digital platform.

This is a further major upheaval in the entertainment world, which is navigating studio sales and mergers, in addition to steep production cuts.

"Our Academy represents an international organization, and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the activities of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience possible - which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the cinematic world," said organization heads in a announcement.

For many years, ratings of the awards show have declined, although there was a small rise in recent years, with a notable portion of Gen Z and millennial watchers streaming from mobile devices and laptops.

In a related comment, YouTube's CEO referred to the Oscars "a key essential cultural institutions" and noted that teaming up with the Academy would "spark a fresh wave of creativity and movie fans while remaining faithful to the Oscars' illustrious legacy".

The broadcast network, which has aired the ceremony since 1976, said that it was eagerly anticipating "to the upcoming broadcasts" it will still host.

This decision coincides with large entertainment companies face complex corporate battles. Both options were viewed as problematic for an business that has seen drastic cuts over the past several years.

Like major studios, cable networks have encountered challenges as the viewers has shifted towards on-demand video instead.

YouTube winning the license to the Oscars further suggests that the dominance of streaming sites will carry on to grow.