The Academy Awards to Depart ABC and Broadcast Live on YouTube Beginning in the Year 2029.
The Oscars ceremony will commence airing only on YouTube in the year 2029, signaling the latest major change in Hollywood.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made the announcement on Wednesday, confirming that it entered into a multi-year deal giving YouTube the unique international license to the Oscars through 2033.
The awards show, scheduled for March 15th, has been broadcast for 50 years on ABC. Commencing in 2029, the ceremony will be available as a free live stream on YouTube.
This is one more major shakeup in the entertainment world, which is grappling with studio sales and mergers, along with drastic slashes to movie budgets.
"The Academy is an worldwide body, and this partnership will permit us to broaden reach to the activities of the Academy to the most extensive international crowd imaginable - which will be advantageous for our membership and the movie industry," stated organization heads in a release.
For many years, audience numbers of the ceremony have fallen, even if there was a slight uptick in recent years, with a considerable amount of youthful audiences watching from cell phones and desktops.
In a separate statement, the video platform's chief executive described the Oscars "a key vital cultural touchstones" and noted that partnering with the Academy would "motivate a younger cohort of artistic expression and movie fans while staying true to the Oscars' illustrious heritage".
ABC, which has streamed the ceremony since the mid-1970s, said that it was excited "to the next three telecasts" it will retain rights for.
This shift comes as film industry giants deal with intricate takeover attempts. These potential deals were considered unfavourable for an industry that has experienced drastic cuts over the last few years.
Similar to big production houses, traditional TV channels have struggled as the viewers has chosen digital platforms as an alternative.
The platform securing rights to the Oscars strongly indicates that reliance on streaming sites will continue increasing.
