The Academy Awards Are Exiting ABC and Stream on YouTube Beginning in the Year 2029.
The Oscars ceremony will begin airing only on YouTube in the year 2029, representing the most recent significant transformation in Hollywood.
The organization behind the Oscars made the announcement on Wednesday, confirming that it finalized a multi-year deal granting the streaming service the exclusive global rights to the Oscars until 2033.
The Oscars, which is planned for March 15th, has aired for five decades on ABC. Beginning in 2029, the show will be available live and for free on YouTube.
It's another significant shakeup in Hollywood, which is grappling with corporate acquisitions and consolidations, coupled with severe production cuts.
"The Academy is an international organization, and this alliance will allow us to expand access to the activities of the Academy to the biggest global viewership imaginable - which will be positive for our film artists and the movie industry," said organization heads in a statement.
Throughout a long period, viewership of the televised event have declined, though there was a small rise in recent years, with a considerable amount of Gen Z and millennial watchers streaming from mobile devices and laptops.
In a separate statement, the video platform's chief executive called the Oscars "a key essential pillars of culture" and noted that partnering with the Academy would "inspire a fresh wave of innovation and movie fans while remaining faithful to the Oscars' celebrated heritage".
The broadcast network, which has aired the ceremony since 1976, said that it was eagerly anticipating "to hosting the event three more times" it will continue to air.
This decision comes as film industry giants deal with challenging merger discussions. Both options were seen as unfavourable for an business that has experienced drastic cuts over the recent period.
In common with big production houses, cable networks have encountered challenges as the viewers has chosen on-demand video instead.
YouTube winning the license to the Academy Awards strongly indicates that the dominance of streaming sites will persist to grow.
