The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that the Academy Awards will begin streaming exclusively on YouTube in 2029.

While sharing the information on Wednesday, December 17 2025, the Academy mentioned that it signed a multi-year deal that will give YouTube the exclusive global rights to the Oscars until 2033.

This is the latest big change in Hollywood dealing with studio sales and mergers, along with steep production cuts.

Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor said in a statement, "The Academy is an international organization, and this partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience possible - which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the film community."

Over decades, viewership of the awards show has declined, though there was a slight uptick in 2025, with a significant number of younger viewers tuning in from cell phones and computers.

In a statement, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan called the Oscars "one of our essential cultural institutions" and said that partnering with the Academy would "inspire a new generation of creativity and film lovers while staying true to the Oscars' storied legacy".

ABC, which has aired the awards since 1976, said it is looking ahead to the final three ceremonies it will still broadcast.

The development comes as Warner Bros Discovery advised its shareholders on Wednesday to reject a hostile takeover offer from Paramount Skydance in favour of a competing bid from streaming company Netflix.

Industry observers say neither option is favourable for a sector that has suffered heavy cutbacks in recent years. Like major film studios, cable television networks have struggled as audiences increasingly turn to streaming platforms.

YouTube securing the rights to the Academy Awards further points to a future where streaming services continue to dominate.

Movies made with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) can now compete for top honors at the Oscars, according to new rules from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In a statement released in April 2025, the Academy explained that using AI or other digital tools in a film’s production will not increase or reduce its chances of being nominated. The update comes as part of a wider move to clarify how technology fits into modern filmmaking.

Some of this year’s Oscar-winning films already used AI in creative ways. For example, "The Brutalist," which earned Adrian Brody the Best Actor award, used AI to fine-tune the actor’s Hungarian accent. In the musical "Emilia Perez," AI voice-cloning tools helped improve the singing voices of the cast.

Even though AI is becoming more common in filmmaking, the Academy made it clear that human involvement will still play a major role in deciding which films deserve to win.

These new guidelines were shaped by recommendations from the Academy’s Science and Technology Council.

Along with the AI update, the Academy has also introduced another important rule: moving forward, voters must watch all the nominated films in a category before they are allowed to vote for the winner. This change is meant to make the selection process more fair and informed.

AI is now being used more widely in music and film production because it can quickly adjust voices, images, or even entire scenes. However, not everyone is excited about this shift. Many actors and artists are concerned that AI might take away jobs or use their work without permission.

The Academy’s new stance suggests that as technology continues to evolve, the film industry—and its biggest awards—will continue to adapt as well.

Actors and screenwriters previously highlighted fears about losing work to AI during the 2023 strikes in Hollywood.

"If you can take my face, my body and my voice and make me say or do something that I had no choice about, that's not a good thing," actress Susan Sarandon told the BBC from a picket line.

And screenwriters are concerned studios would seek to cut costs and save time by using tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT for tasks such as researching, treatment and script writing, instead of humans.

Safeguards around the use of AI were established as part of the agreements reached between unions and studios that marked the end of the strikes.

But while some actors have seemingly embraced the technology, others, such as Scarlett Johansson, have issued warnings about its potential to allow abuse of their image or likeness.

Animators told the BBC in 2024 generative AI tools were not yet good enough to be able to replicate the quality of their work - certainly not to an award-winning standard.

"It's like having a bad writer help you," said Jonathan Kendrick, co-founder and chairman of global streaming service Rokit Flix.

"Sure it will get an outline done, but if you need something with emotional weight, an AI isn't going to get you an Oscar."