The Academy Awards Will Leave ABC and Broadcast Live on YouTube Beginning in 2029.
The Oscars ceremony will commence broadcasting solely on YouTube in the year 2029, representing the most recent significant change in the film industry.
The organization behind the Oscars revealed the news on this week, indicating that it signed a multi-year deal awarding YouTube the sole worldwide broadcasting rights to the Oscars through 2033.
The awards show, which is planned for 15 March, has aired for five decades on ABC. Beginning in 2029, the show will be viewable live and for free on YouTube.
It's one more major shakeup in the entertainment world, which is navigating corporate acquisitions and consolidations, along with severe slashes to movie budgets.
"Our Academy represents an worldwide body, 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 film artists and the film community," stated Academy leadership in a statement.
Over decades, audience numbers of the televised event have fallen, though there was a small rise in recent years, with a considerable amount of youthful audiences streaming from mobile devices and computers.
In a related comment, YouTube's CEO called the Oscars "one of our vital pillars of culture" and said that partnering with the Academy would "motivate a younger cohort of artistic expression and cinema enthusiasts while staying true to the Oscars' illustrious history".
The broadcast network, which has televised the awards since the mid-1970s, commented that it was looking forward "to the upcoming broadcasts" it will still host.
This decision comes as large entertainment companies deal with challenging merger discussions. Such proposals were seen as unfavourable for an business that has experienced drastic cuts over the past several years.
Like big production houses, cable networks have faced issues as the audience has chosen on-demand video instead.
YouTube obtaining rights to the Oscars further suggests that the dominance of digital platforms will continue expanding.
