Oscars Reach Deal With YouTube

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said 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 stream most of the programming over the internet. Even new movies are increasingly viewed in the home on streaming services.

YouTube has long been a force on mobile devices and laptops, but only in the past few years did it begin 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. (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” on a year-round basis and on a global scale. The Oscars YouTube channel, for instance, will include programming related to academy events like the Governors Awards, which are held in the fall and recognize lifetime achievement. The academy plans to work with YouTube on red-carpet and behind-the-scenes Oscars coverage.

The deal also provides the academy with more control over Oscar sponsorships. In addition, Google, which owns YouTube, agreed to help digitize the academy’s collection of more than 52 million film-related items. “We will be able to celebrate cinema, inspire new generations of filmmakers and provide access to our film history,” Mr. Kramer and Ms. Taylor said in the statement.

The Oscars have struggled to remain relevant over the past decade, with many viewers complaining that the ceremony is overlong and self-serious. 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 reached 19.7 million people, a slight increase from a year earlier.

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. Even with ratings declines, the Oscars command the highest advertising spend of any entertainment live event, eclipsing the Grammys, the Emmys and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, according to Guideline, an advertising data firm.

ABC had started talks for a new contract but, pointing to declining ratings, balked at the academy’s push for a fee increase. The network believed that, if anything, a 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 accepted a smaller rights fee from YouTube than ABC was paying for the ceremony, but believed that other aspects of the agreement added value, according to two people briefed on the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private contract. Academy executives were especially taken by YouTube’s global reach, on television sets as well as on mobile devices, the people said.

ABC and the academy also disagreed about modernization efforts for the show. For years, ABC executives have pushed to significantly reduce the number of televised awards (24) to shorten the broadcast. The academy experimented with removing a handful of categories a few years ago, but in a fierce backlash, members felt the effort was insulting to the affected artists.

“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,” ABC said in a statement.

All broadcast networks have experienced audience declines as viewers have shifted to streamed programming, but ABC came to the negotiations from a place of strength: It announced late last year that it had gained exclusive rights to the Grammy Awards under a 10-year deal beginning in 2027. ABC agreed to pay about $50 million a year for the rights.

About 15.4 million people watched the most recent Grammys, a 9 percent decline from 2024.

The Oscars were the last major awards telecast to embrace livestreaming, with a simulcast on Hulu this year. (There were quite a few glitches.) The Screen Actors Guild Awards, recently renamed the Actor Awards, have streamed live on Netflix since 2024.

While it doesn’t make movies or scripted television shows, YouTube has been making inroads with traditional programming. (In a statement, Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief executive, called the Oscars “one of our essential cultural institutions.”) YouTube has had rights to “N.F.L. Sunday Ticket” since 2023, for instance. This year, YouTube also streamed a Week 1 National Football League game from Brazil that drew more than 18 million viewers.

The company’s interest in the N.F.L. has raised speculation that it could make a play for a much broader set of rights if the league decides to renegotiate its media deals, beginning as soon as next year. N.F.L. games are the most popular programming in the United States and widely considered a must-have for major media companies. That speculation is sure to intensify after the deal for the Oscars.

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