According to this story on Bloomberg, YouTube has attempted to buy the rights to the Oscars:
YouTube makes a play for the Oscars
Most of the companies vying to be the next home of the Oscars won’t surprise you. Walt Disney’s ABC has aired the show for almost five decades. Comcast’s NBCUniversal is hungry for more live events. Netflix is Netflix. Amazon is spending a lot of money on live programming and original movies. And Paramount’s CBS just lost the Grammys.
But there is one surprise: YouTube. The Google-owned video site has inquired about buying the rights to the Academy Awards, according to two people familiar with the matter.
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That doesn’t mean YouTube will get the rights. The show will air on ABC through at least 2028, and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences is in the middle of negotiations. Many of the bidders can offer both a broadcast network and a streaming service. At least three of the bidders own major movie studios that prioritize theaters.
But the Oscars is a TV show and Hollywood is all about the bottom line. Stay tuned.
YouTube is the best move for the Oscars if they want to remain culturally relevant. The me that got online in 1994, before there was even a YouTube, would be mind-blown over this, but it makes sense for so many reasons.
Streaming is obviously an option, but that means it will be exclusive to subscribers only. Network television, even cable television, is going, going, gone. It’s not all over yet – a couple of generations are still watching, but a show like the Oscars can still get bonanza ratings if they move to YouTube.
I have never been a fan of the Oscars being available on Netflix or Hulu. These platforms draw niche audiences. YouTube draws the world. For instance, I only watch YouTube now. It’s much more interesting to me than any of the other platforms I subscribe to. Almost everyone I know says the same thing. They only watch YouTube. I check the site multiple times throughout the day. The content is always fresh and interesting. I love it that it’s built by its users. The only platform that competes with YouTube is TikTok.
We live in a “grab and go” society now, where people want clips that they can share instantly. The Academy already has a presence on YouTube. They have all of their clips, old and new. Why not have the show air live? The story writes itself. I can’t think of a better bridge from the old world into the new than this.
The Academy’s channel has its own history, current clips, and Academy events. Having a livestream of the ceremony brings them screaming into the modern age and will embed itself in the hearts and minds of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. If they do not want to retire to a pasture in their 100th year, this is the best path to take.
That, and they should shrink Best Picture back down to five.
I hope they do it, I really do.
