When I first heard rumblings that YouTube was among the suitors for the Oscar telecast, the first thing I thought was, “Well, that’s a waste of time. It doesn’t stand a chance.” Guess that was wrong.
Now that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences indeed has handed over the keys to the Oscar broadcast kingdom to none other than YouTube, I have to say it is inspired. Earlier today I did an interview with the BBC, and the reporter asked simply, “Is this a good move?” After riffing on it with him for a few minutes, I have firmly convinced myself this just might be the smartest, even most brilliant chess move AMPAS ever has done.
Why? It’s simple, dummy! The Oscars already are on YouTube, and have been for a few years.
Grandpa and Grandma, even Mom and Dad mighgt only know how to watch the often-bloated (timewise) Oscar show on network television — first in the 1950s on NBC, then in the ’60s on ABC, then in first half of the ’70s back to NBC and since 1976 exclusively on ABC again — but younger internet and iPhone-hip generations increasingly watch the show, as they consume many things, in bits and pieces. Want to see Mikey Madison win her Oscar for Anora, just type in “Mikey Madison Oscars YouTube.”
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The same goes for most past winners going all the way back to the beginning of the Academy Awards‘ television age. YouTube is the go-to home for past Oscar moments, so why can’t it be the home for its future in a much bigger way. And who knows? By 2029, when the deal kicks into place with the 101st annual Academy Awards, YouTube — already with the biggest streaming audience — just might rule the world, depending on just how far ranging its ambitions are.
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This deal makes perfect sense, and not only financially. Reportedly, YouTube outbid ABC and the other suitors significantly with a nine-figure offer, considerably over the $100 million fee AMPAS gets for the show from ABC in the current contract (which runs through the 100th show in 2028). And having poached the Grammys from CBS, the Alphabet network wasn’t in a mood to up that fee and most likely urge a haircut on the Academy.
It’s a different world now, even though the Oscar ratings on ABC have been slowly climbing back since the pandemic show of 2021, when only 10 million tuned in. The 97th Oscar show reached about 18 million viewers, but add in the Hulu streaming factor of the past couple of years — and yes, YouTube — and you have a few more eyeballs. But viewership is nowhere near where it once was, even back to the year of Titanic with nearly 60 million viewers, but that was due to the popularity of that film, not the Oscars themselves. The 2004 telecast with The Lord of the Rings was big too, but also because of the movie. YouTube is a bit of a safety net even in years where the winners might not be the most ratings-baity.
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But this is an organization with its eyes on the whole world. In the past few years, AMPAS has increased the voting membership significantly, and almost half of those additions have been with international voters. The Oscars’ ambition, and the way the Academy sees itself, is as a global enterprise, further making Oscar a definitive symbol of that everywhere on the planet. Hooking up with another global entity where the show and other elements of it, and Academy activities, and where the telecast can stream for free — and to subscribers in the U.S. — is a no-brainer.
And let’s face it: This is a good movie for the industry. Movies, theatrical movies, if they are to survive, need the rest of the world, and a truly global Oscarcast is good in that regard. With panic about the future of the industry, particularly with the Netflix-Warner Bros of it all, a newly hip and healthy Oscar show needs newer generations to survive itself. This puts the Academy ahead of the curve in what no longer is the analog world in which it was created 100 years ago. It is time to celebrate change, real change. This is so significant you have to wonder what effect it will have on the Television Academy, which is seeing its outdated four-network “wheel” contract expire after September’s Emmy broadcast on NBC. They should pay attention to this development.
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There also can be no question that, with the show ballooning back to 24 categories this year with the new Casting category and to 25 in 2028 with the addition of the Stunts category, having the freedom — and no pressure — to let it breathe rather than playing people off is a plus. A big one. And why not televise the Governors Awards, which hand out those honorary Oscars privately every November? The star turnout for that strategically placed awards-season event is huge. Can you imagine the audience Tom Cruise’s acceptance speech might have gotten when it was actually happening live?
Well-placed sources tell me there also was another very big reason for this. In addition to having even more control of the show itself, AMPAS will have more control of the sponsorships, creating new and different opportunities for year-round brand partners. And make no mistake — this YouTube deal is a year-round one. That is considered a major game-changer for AMPAS, which might explain why I am told it was received “enthusiastically” by the Board of Governors, made up of people of many different ages and backgrounds. The feeling inside the Academy, I hear, is that they feel relevant again, to everyone and not just one demographic.
Oscar has a brand new bag.
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