Bill Kramer isn't walking back the decision to move the Oscars to YouTube. If anything, he's leaning further into it.
Speaking ahead of the Academy's next broadcast cycle, the CEO framed the shift from traditional network television to the streaming platform as the opening move in a broader reinvention of the ceremony itself, promising viewers a telecast that will look and feel markedly different from the show that has aired for decades. "You'll see a very different-looking Oscars," Kramer said, positioning the change not as a cost-saving retreat but as a deliberate creative reset.
The Academy confirmed earlier that its long-running partnership with ABC would end, with YouTube taking over as the exclusive home of the ceremony. The move marks the first time in the telecast's history that the show will not air on a legacy broadcast network, and it hands the industry's most-watched awards night to a platform built around on-demand, global, and largely younger audiences.
A Shrinking Audience and a Changing Medium
The decision did not arrive in a vacuum. Oscar ratings have trended downward for years, a decline that predates the pandemic but accelerated sharply during it. Network television as a whole is shedding viewers, and awards shows of every stripe - the Emmys, the Grammys, the Golden Globes - have all experimented with format changes, shortened runtimes, and new distribution partners in an effort to stay relevant.
Kramer has argued that clinging to a broadcast model out of nostalgia serves nobody, least of all an Academy whose membership and global viewership have both grown more international and more digitally native. YouTube reaches billions of users worldwide, offers no geographic barriers to entry, and - crucially for the Academy - allows for clips, highlights, and behind-the-scenes content to live on the same platform where the main event streams.
The Risk of Losing the Casual Viewer
Not everyone inside the industry is convinced. Critics of the move point out that broadcast television still delivers something streaming platforms struggle to replicate: a shared, appointment-viewing moment that casual audiences stumble onto while flipping channels. On YouTube, the ceremony becomes one option among millions, competing against an infinite feed of shorter, punchier content.
There is also the question of prestige. For nearly a century, the Oscars have occupied a singular place in the cultural calendar precisely because they aired where everyone else was watching. Moving to a platform more commonly associated with reaction videos and creator content is a gamble that the Academy's brand is strong enough to carry the venue, rather than the other way around.
Kramer's response, essentially, is that the old model was already failing and that the alternative is to do nothing. The new-look Oscars, in his telling, will lean into what a digital-first audience actually wants: tighter pacing, more accessible storytelling, and a production designed from the ground up for a platform where viewers can pause, rewind, and share.
What "Different-Looking" Might Actually Mean
The Academy has not released a detailed format blueprint, and Kramer has been careful not to overpromise specifics. But the phrase "different-looking" invites obvious interpretation. Expect a shorter runtime, fewer montages, and a production aesthetic calibrated for smaller screens rather than a cavernous theater. Expect the red carpet, the backstage interviews, and the post-show analysis to be folded into a single continuous digital experience rather than parceled out across networks and cable channels.
Whether the ceremony itself will abandon the Dolby Theatre, relocate, or adopt a hybrid live-and-streamed structure remains unconfirmed. Kramer has hinted at experimentation but declined to lock in details, which is consistent with an executive who wants flexibility heading into an untested broadcast.
A Bet on the Future of the Ceremony
What's clear is that Kramer is staking his tenure on the proposition that the Oscars' problem was never the awards themselves, but the packaging around them. The Academy has spent years tinkering at the edges - adding popular film categories, cutting them, shuffling the running order - without arresting the decline. Handing the show to YouTube is a structural change, not a cosmetic one.
It is also a bet that the ceremony's future audience is watching on phones, laptops, and smart TVs, in countries where the broadcast network never reached, and at times that suit them rather than a primetime slot.
Kramer has promised a ceremony that reflects that reality. The industry will find out whether audiences agree when the next Oscars airs - and whether "very different-looking" turns out to be a boast the Academy can back up.
Source: Hollywood Reporter