Oscars Reach Deal With YouTube

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said that it had reached a deal with YouTube for exclusive rights to the show starting in 2029.

The Oscars are going online.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Wednesday that it would move the Academy Awards to YouTube under an exclusive five-year deal beginning with the 101st ceremony in 2029. The agreement will end an exclusive run on ABC that started in 1976.

In choosing YouTube as its distribution partner, the academy — Hollywood’s most tradition-bound entity — is embracing a new reality: Viewers, in particular younger ones, now watch most of their content online. Even new movies are increasingly viewed in the home on streaming services.

YouTube has long been a dominant force on mobile devices and laptops, but it was only in the last few years that it began dominating actual television sets, too. YouTube commands 13 percent of all television viewing time in the United States, the biggest share of any streaming service, according to Nielsen, the ratings firm. (To compare, Netflix stands at 8 percent.)

“This partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the academy to the largest worldwide audience possible,” Bill Kramer, the chief executive of the academy, and Lynette Howell Taylor, the organization’s president, said in a statement.

They said YouTube also offered “innovative opportunities for engagement,” without specifying what those might be. “We will be able to celebrate cinema, inspire new generations of filmmakers and provide access to our film history,” the statement said.

The Oscars have struggled to remain relevant over the past decade, with many viewers complaining that the ceremony is overlong, with groan-inducing banter between presenters, adding to a feeling of bloat. In 2016, when ABC and the academy most recently renewed their partnership, the Oscars telecast attracted 34.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. In March, the show only reached about 20 million people.

Viewership hit a record low of 10.4 million people in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. It peaked at 57 million people in 1998.

ABC has been paying about $100 million a year for the show. The network has generated roughly $140 million annually from ad sales, a portion of which is shared with the academy, according to government filings. As ratings have slumped, ABC has increased the number of ads it places in the telecast.

ABC was interested in keeping the Oscars and had started talks with the academy for a new contract. But the network, pointing to declining ratings, balked at the academy’s request for a fee increase. If anything, ABC believed a fee cut was in order. The academy, however, relies on the Oscars for roughly 60 percent of its annual revenue. A less lucrative deal could imperil some of the organization’s year-round activities, including film restoration.

The academy did not say how much YouTube was paying for the rights.

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