YouTube now the global broadcaster of the Oscars. This is how television dies.
There’s a line in the 1996 TV movie The Late Shift that I often want to evoke in this newsletter. It’s a scene where David Letterman is leaving his decade-plus home of NBC to face the media with the announcement that he is making a move to CBS. He turns to his companions and says:
Gentlemen, we are just going from one bizarre circumstance to the next.
I shifted from wanting to use this line once every few months to lately where not a week goes by…
Why am I using the line today?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that it has reached a deal with YouTube for exclusive rights to the Academy Awards starting in 2029.
The current US rights holder had been the US ABC network (Disney being the parent company). ABC has broadcast the Academy Awards every year since 1976. So, even moving on from ABC is a pretty big deal in itself, let alone leaving broadcast TV entirely.
The deal signed is GLOBAL, meaning that in markets like Australia it will also be gone from broadcast networks.
I heard Peter Kafka on his very good Channels podcast this morning tell guest Lucas Shaw that the Warner Bros sale to (probably) Netflix is the biggest news story that he’ll cover in his career. And I get why he said that, but I actually think the more significant story is this news about YouTube taking the Academy Awards.
Viewership for the Academy Awards skews old. It’s very traditional broadcast TV. And it connotes a sense of prestige for the network that carries it. For the Academy to hand it over to YouTube, it would need to satisfy the following conditions:
Will the older audience be able to make the leap?
Will the awards show still feel like the broadcast show viewers have been watching for their entire lives (outside of the occasional nip & tuck)?
Is YouTube a reputable business that won’t cause brand safety concerns?
YouTube clearly satisfied all of that, while also delivering big bags of money, a global audience, and possible tech innovations and interactivity. It has not been revealed yet what YouTube is paying.
This, as per the NYT:
YouTube has long been a dominant force on mobile devices and laptops, but it was only in the last few years that it began dominating actual television sets, too. YouTube commands 13 percent of all television viewing time in the United States, the biggest share of any streaming service, according to Nielsen, the ratings firm. (To compare, Netflix stands at 8 percent.)
“This partnership will allow us to expand access to the work of the academy to the largest worldwide audience possible,” Bill Kramer, the chief executive of the academy, and Lynette Howell Taylor, the organization’s president, said in a statement.
They said YouTube also offered “innovative opportunities for engagement,” without specifying what those might be. “We will be able to celebrate cinema, inspire new generations of filmmakers and provide access to our film history,” the statement said.
If the very traditional Academy is prepared to make the leap, to my mind, this is the final death rattle for linear broadcast.
We all knew it would end not with a bang, but a whimper. But, I didn’t expect it to feel so bizarre when it did.
What’s next?
Today in WBD merger news
As was broadly expected, Warner Bros Discovery has formally advised shareholders to reject the Paramount offer. Read: Deadline
“PSKY’s most recent proposal includes a $40.65 billion equity commitment, for which there is no Ellison family commitment of any kind,” the letter says, referring to Paramount by its ticker symbol. “Instead, they propose that you rely on an unknown and opaque revocable trust for the certainty of this crucial deal funding. Despite having been told repeatedly by WBD how important a full and unconditional financing commitment from the Ellison family was – and despite their own ample resources, as well as multiple assurances by PSKY during our strategic review process that such a commitment was forthcoming – the Ellison family has chosen not to backstop the PSKY offer.”
Paramount rebutted this with a media release stating that it would hold firm with its current offer, but the industry is expecting a higher offer will be made. Read: Deadline
According to an SEC filing on Wednesday, Paramount’s first offer to buy WBD included a compensation package for CEO David Zaslav that was worth “several hundred million dollars.” Zaslav told the WBD board about the offer and informed the Ellison family “it would be inappropriate to discuss any such arrangements at that time.” Read: The Wrap
Are you curious to know what the WBD execs will make once the sale closes? Prepare for an eye-watering… Zaslav is walking away with at least US $567million. Read: THR
News Desk
Another day, another Netflix podcast deal. Today it is a deal for exclusive rights to Barstool Sports podcasts Pardon My Take, The Ryen Russillo Show, and Spittin Chiclets. The deal covers rights to the video versions - audio podcasts will still be widely available. Read: THR
Expect a lot of 30 Rock easter eggs in new Tracy Morgan sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. Read: THR
Gil Gerard has died of cancer at age 82. He was best known for playing the lead role in the late 70s classic show Buck Rogers in The 25th Century. Read: NYT
Peacock will now hit users with ads from the ‘select your profile’ screen, which feels incredibly desperate. ABW notes that Peacock was the one streamer without a Black Friday deal this year. Read: Deadline
Trailer Park
The Muppet Show returns Feb 4 on Disney+ for a one-off special. It is being viewed as a pilot for a new series, so if this special does well on the streamer, Disney will make more.
Girl Taken debuts Jan 8 on Paramount+.
Based on the novel “Baby Doll” by Hollie Overton, six-part psychological thriller follows the story of twin sisters Lily and Abby, whose lives are shattered when Lily is abducted from their quiet rural English town by beloved local teacher Rick Hansen.
Gangs of London returns for season 3 Jan 15 on AMC+.
Tell Me Lies returns for season 3 Jan 13 on Hulu
The Artful Dodger returns for season 2 on Disney+ Feb 10.
The Rookie returns Jan 6 on the US ABC for season 8.
Melania debuts in cinemas worldwide from Jan 30. Is it a food safety issue to be serving popcorn amid so many tumbleweeds?
That’s the newsletter for the today. Sorry it was so late in the day.
Consider becoming a paid supporter of Always Be Watching.
Connect with Dan on Bluesky. Connect with Dan on Letterboxd. Connect with Dan on Linkedin. Email Dan @ alwaysbewatching.com or just reply to this email.
