The Oscars Log Off Broadcast TV: Academy Awards Head to YouTube in 2029

Hollywood’s biggest night is about to smash that “Skip Ad” button.

In a move that feels both inevitable and mildly chaotic, the Academy Awards will officially leave traditional broadcast television and move to YouTube beginning in 2029, ending a decades-long relationship with ABC. Yes, the Oscars, the crown jewel of awards season, the home of long speeches and even longer montages, are going full digital.

The deal means the Oscars will stream live on YouTube worldwide, free to watch, starting with the 101st Academy Awards. ABC will continue airing the ceremony through 2028, including the milestone 100th Oscars, before handing over the keys. After that, Hollywood’s most glamorous night will live where the people already are: on their phones, tablets, laptops and second screens they pretend they’re not using during acceptance speeches.

For the Academy, this is a bold attempt to fix a very modern problem: viewership erosion. Oscar ratings have struggled for years as younger audiences ditch cable, awards shows feel increasingly out of sync with pop culture and no one wants to pay for a bloated TV package just to watch three hours of envelopes and orchestral wrap-up music. YouTube offers global reach, built-in social sharing and, crucially, a chance to make the Oscars feel less like a museum piece and more like a living event.

According to early details, the YouTube deal won’t just include the ceremony itself. Expect expanded red carpet coverage, backstage streams, nominations announcements and supplemental content, all designed to keep viewers engaged before, during and after the show. Translation: more content, more access and more chances for the internet to immediately meme everything that happens.

For critics and longtime viewers, the shift raises real questions. Will the Oscars finally modernize their pacing? Will YouTube’s ad structure make commercial breaks less painful? And will this actually bring younger audiences back or just give them more clips to scroll past? Still, it’s hard to deny the symbolic weight of the move. The Oscars abandoning broadcast TV is a clear signal that even Hollywood’s most tradition-obsessed institutions know the old model isn’t working anymore.

By 2029, the Oscars won’t just be chasing relevance, they’ll be streaming directly into it. Whether that saves the show or simply changes how we complain about it remains to be seen. Either way, the Academy has officially entered the algorithm era.

And somewhere, a network executive just dropped their phone.