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Bill Kramer defended moving the Oscars to YouTube at Zurich

The AMPAS CEO told Zurich summit attendees the 2029 deal would stream in 30 languages and bundle nominations, Governors Awards, and red carpet shows on the platform.

By The Creator Wire Staff Published Sept. 26, 2026

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer told the Zurich Film Festival summit on Saturday that forgoing YouTube for the Oscars would feel riskier than shifting the broadcast there in 2029.

The awards have aired on ABC in the United States since 1976. Under the announced deal, the 101st Oscars and related events will reach viewers free in 30 languages through Google's video platform.

Kramer joined a panel on theatrical attendance and online platforms with Backrooms filmmaker Kane Parsons, Mattel president and chief content officer Robbie Brenner, and Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker. He pointed to Obsession and Backrooms as examples of projects moving from YouTube toward theaters while the Academy still treated its awards night as a mass-audience television event.

More people watch the Oscars outside the United States than inside it, Kramer said. YouTube would give the Academy direct ways to reach film fans that linear TV does not. He said talks were already advanced with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan and his team, and that the show would look very different with deeper interactive options than current broadcasts allow.

YouTube will also carry red carpet pre-shows, in-show behind-the-scenes segments, the nomination announcement, the Governors Awards, the nominees luncheon, the Student Academy Awards, the Scientific and Technical Awards, member interviews, film education programs, and podcasts. Kramer called the agreement a good deal when asked about the economics. Disney stays the U.S. linear partner for the next two Oscar years.

Oscar telecasts generated about $150 million for the Academy from 2024 through 2025, largely from the Disney rights deal. Nielsen measured the 2026 ceremony at 17.86 million viewers across ABC and Hulu, down roughly 9 percent from 2025 and the smallest audience since 2022.