Having failed (for now) to get its stars into the Emmys, YouTube is opting for a different awards season strategy: It’s angling to broadcast the Oscars. According to a report from Bloomberg, Google’s video hub has had conversations with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences regarding a deal that would see YouTube supplant Disney/ABC as the official distributor of the Oscars broadcast.
The report cites “two people familiar with the matter,” who claimed that YouTube has inquired with the Academy about the Oscars broadcast rights. The annual film industry ceremony has been broadcast on ABC since 1976, but recent developments have suggested that Disney may forfeit its Oscars rights after its current broadcast deal expires in 2028. Notably, back in March, the exclusive negotiation window between the Academy and ABC lapsed. That means it’s currently open season for Hollywood’s biggest night.
For YouTube, an Oscars broadcast would make sense. The awards show would be another crown jewel for a company that has positioned itself as a modern-day distributor of live events that were previously aired by networks. A notable example of that phenomenon is the NFL Sunday Ticket package, which has helped YouTube become the most-watched platform on U.S. TV screens.
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The Oscars would present YouTube with another opportunity to employ the creator-forward marketing strategy it applied to its NFL package. A number of YouTubers, including critic Chris Stuckmann, fraternal horror duo RackaRacka, and Backrooms mastermind Kane Parsons, have directed feature films that have been picked up by notable distributors like A24 and Neon.
As much fun as it would be to see an Oscars ceremony co-hosted by Conan O’Brien and this guy, it’s important to concede that the Oscars are not quite the NFL. While cross-platform Super Bowl viewership has exploded — rising from 84.3 million in 2000 to 123.7 million this year — public interest in the Oscars is flagging. A show that topped 46 million viewers in 2000 dropped to an average of 19.69 million viewers in 2025, even though that ceremony was the first one to be simulcast on the Disney-owned streaming service Hulu.
Even with a move to YouTube, the Academy would face an uphill battle to attract younger viewers who aren’t interested in the arthouse favorites that earn the lion’s share of each year’s Oscar nominations. Or to put it another way: If Disney let its exclusive negotiation window lapse, maybe ABC isn’t as interested in the Oscars as it was between the 1970s and 2010s.
From YouTube’s point of view, a deal with the Academy could still make sense, at least from a marketing standpoint. The video platform wants its homegrown stars to level-up their entertainment careers, and putting them front-and-center on the Oscars red carpet would be one way to further that mission.
