The Oscars will dump ABC for … YouTube?
Hollywood’s biggest party will soon be broadcast right next to Mr. Beast.
You heard right: the Oscars, the Oscars, the annual ceremony, the red carpet, the most glamorous faces in Hollywood coming together to treat themselves to golden statuettes, it’s on YouTube, starting in 2029.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced explosive news on Wednesday, and the Academy’s decision will no doubt be met with howls of outrage and indignation from the embattled film industry.
The Oscars broadcast is about to begin—um, streaming— on YouTube starting in 2029, with a four-year contract through 2033. The Oscars telecast will be streamed for free on YouTube, along with the Governors Awards, the Oscar nominations announcement, and more.
The Oscars have been broadcast on network television – alternating between NBC and ABC – for more than 70 years, and although audiences for the awards ceremony have declined sharply over the past decade, the broadcast is still considered a fairly prestigious event.
So move the Oscars to streaming—to YouTube!—where Hollywood’s biggest night will rub shoulders with vertical short films and the latest episode of The hot ones…well, talk about a slap in the face.
The news also comes just over a week after Netflix announced it had reached a deal with Warner Brothers to purchase the popular film and television studio, home to cinema classics such as Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, All the President’s Men, Goodfellas, THE Harry Potter moviesGame of Thronesand of course, the Police academy saga.
The one-two punch of Warners gobbling up Netflix (assuming federal regulators approve the deal, which is still a big “if” at this point) and the streaming Oscars will surely be seen as a double death knell for the film industry, even if the latter development is more symbolic than the former.
Of course, the truth is that the Oscars have been appearing on YouTube for a long time, in the form of viral videos. How many of us watched “The Slap” when it was actually broadcast? Not me. No, I saw it on YouTube, and the same goes for the Ellen DeGeneres selfie, Jennifer Lawrence tripping on the steps on her way to the podium, etc.
In retrospect, the Oscars being moved to YouTube isn’t so shocking after all. Hell, maybe that’s just appropriate.
