YouTube will have the exclusive rights to the Oscars starting in 2029 and running until 2033.
The deal will see the Oscars available to stream for free by over two billion viewers globally.
YouTube will be the new exclusive home of the Oscars from 2029. Moving from ABC in the US, its home since 1976, the Oscars will move over to Google's streaming platform as part of a package that includes red carpet coverage too.
It signals a significant change for the industry and is perhaps fitting considering the challenge that platforms like YouTube pose to traditional television services.
Now setting itself up as the home of the Oscars – the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards – it helps underline that YouTube is a serious player, no doubt helped by Google's deep pockets.
The deal, as according to details from the Academy, will give YouTube exclusive rights to broadcast the event through to 2033, starting with the 101st Oscars in 2029.
The upshot of this agreement is that The Oscars will be globally available free wherever YouTube is accessible, accessible to an estimated two billion viewers. There will be a dedicated Oscars channel on YouTube, with coverage of the Governors Awards, the Nominations and Student Academy Awards as well as other programmes.
The deal also sees Google Arts & Culture getting access to the Academy Museum, including digitisation of the Academy Collection with more than 52 million items of film-related content.
The Hollywood Reporter provides a little more insight, saying that ABC (owned by Disney) – the previous home of the Oscars – was frustrated with Academy over the lack of control the channel had an inability to modernise the show.
Streaming, it seems, was the priority for The Academy and with YouTube it gets the widest reach it can, especially as it's free for the viewer. YouTube on the other hand will likely be looking to sell its own advertising time on the global scale to accompany the new show.
Whether other media organisations will get access to provide their own coverage remains to be seen, as Disney previously managed rights to local TV partners in each country.
The change will put YouTube in the spotlight as a destination for premium live content and help grow the power of the platform. Exactly whether there will be any change to the event of the Oscars remains to be seen, but it's likely that the format will largely stay the same.
The 97th Oscars were presented by Conan O'Brian and recent entertainment has come from the Will Smith slap, but otherwise it's the collection of the great and the good in one place that normally wows viewers.
Of course, with YouTube in the driving seat there's always the risk that the Oscars will move into the streaming era. Could that see fresher talent running the show?
Let's just hope that the Academy Awards hang on to their dignity and we don't get a show fronted by Mr Beast.
