The Oscars Are Heading to YouTube — And Hollywood Is Paying Attention

The Oscars are about to get a much bigger stage.

Beginning in 2029, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will make YouTube the exclusive global home of the Oscars, marking a major shift in how Hollywood’s biggest night reaches audiences worldwide. Under the multi-year deal, the ceremony will stream live and free to over two billion viewers globally, while also remaining available to YouTube TV subscribers in the United States.

That reach matters. So does how it’s delivered.

In addition to the main broadcast, YouTube will stream red carpet coverage, behind-the-scenes moments, Governors Ball access, and year-round Academy programming. The platform will also offer accessibility features such as closed captioning and multiple-language audio tracks, part of a broader effort to expand the Oscars’ global footprint and make the ceremony more inclusive.

The timing of the announcement is hard to ignore.

It arrives in the middle of an awards season defined by renewed interest in theatrical films that connect with both audiences and critics. 

Few projects embody that moment more clearly than Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners," which is in major film-related chatter.  Will it get a BEST PICTURE nomination?  Will the director, Ryan Coogler, get a BEST DIRECTOR nomination?  

The film has become one of the most discussed titles of the season, earning multiple placements on the Academy’s shortlists and fueling speculation about how far that momentum could carry into the 2026 Oscar nominations. Industry watchers see its strong showing as evidence that voters are responding to ambitious, filmmaker-driven work—especially when that work also performs at the box office.

With hundreds of millions of dollars in global ticket sales, the film stands out as a rare original release to break through commercially in a landscape dominated by sequels and franchises. Its success has reignited a long-running debate in Hollywood: whether films that resonate culturally and financially are once again gaining traction with awards voters.

That conversation gives added weight to the Academy’s partnership with YouTube.

Beyond the Oscars broadcast itself, the deal includes exclusive streaming access to nominations announcements, nominee luncheons, the Student Academy Awards, the Scientific and Technical Awards, filmmaker interviews, educational programming, and podcasts—all housed on the Oscars YouTube channel.

“The Academy is an international organization,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer said in a statement, emphasizing that the partnership is designed to expand access on a global scale. Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor echoed that sentiment, pointing to the opportunity to celebrate cinema while inspiring future generations of filmmakers.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan described the Oscars as “one of our essential cultural institutions,” framing the partnership as a way to honor the ceremony’s legacy while bringing it to a broader, more diverse audience.

The agreement also extends to preservation and education. Through Google Arts & Culture, the Academy will provide digital access to select exhibitions and programming from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and help digitize parts of the Academy Collection—one of the largest film-related archives in the world, with more than 52 million items.

For filmmakers like Coogler, whose work bridges mainstream appeal and artistic ambition, the implications are significant. A globally accessible Oscars—free, multilingual, and embedded in the same digital spaces where audiences already debate box office numbers and awards predictions—could reshape how awards momentum is built and sustained.

The Academy’s current domestic broadcast agreement with ABC will remain in place through the 100th Oscars in 2028, as will Disney’s international distribution. But beyond that milestone, the future of the Oscars looks unmistakably digital.

"Sinners" directed by Ryan Coogler

As films like “Sinners” remind audiences why theatrical storytelling still matters, the Academy’s move to YouTube signals something equally important: prestige cinema is no longer confined to cable television or closed industry rooms. It’s unfolding in real time, on a global stage, with the world watching.