{"id":612524,"date":"2026-09-26T15:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T15:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612524\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T15:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T15:36:09","slug":"academy-ceo-bill-kramer-doubles-down-on-youtube-move-at-zurich-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612524\/","title":{"rendered":"Academy CEO Bill Kramer Doubles Down on YouTube Move at Zurich Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDoes AMPAS<\/a> CEO Bill Kramer<\/a> feel as though they\u2019re taking a risk by moving the awards ceremony to YouTube<\/a> in 2029?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt almost feels risky not to do it,\u201d said Kramer at the Zurich Film Festival<\/a> Summit event on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a talk titled \u201cThe Theatrical Box Office Resurgence! How to Get Audiences\u2019 Attention in the Era of Social Media and Online Platforms?\u201d, Kramer was joined by Backrooms filmmaker Kane Parsons, president and chief content officer at Mattel, Robbie Brenner, and co-president at Sony Pictures Classics, Michael Barker.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing Kramer\u2019s keynote speech at the Swiss summit, he doubled down on taking the Oscars<\/a> \u2014 which has aired on ABC in the U.S. since 1976 \u2014 to YouTube, in a deal that will bring the film industry\u2019s biggest night to millions more people, translated into 30 different languages, for free.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe told the room: \u201cAs we become more global as an organization, the best way for us to reach a global audience of film lovers, film fans, [and] young artists is YouTube. I think the timing this year \u2014 Obsession, Backrooms, you and Curry [Barker],\u201d he said, talking to Parsons. \u201c[It\u2019s] moving in the other direction from YouTube to theatrical for us; we\u2019re an organization that celebrates theatrical filmmaking, but at the same time, the Oscars<\/a> is a television show, and we want to reach a large audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYouTube allows the Academy<\/a> to directly engage with their audience and film fans in a way that \u201cwe just can\u2019t do right now,\u201d continued Kramer. \u201cIt gives the Academy more control in engaging with fandom and film lovers and film fans and viewers of the Oscars. Right now more people outside of the U.S. watch the Oscars than in the U.S., and this allows us to capture that audience a lot more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen probed by Deadline\u2018s Andreas Wiseman if he believes the deal to be risky, Kramer said: \u201cNot at all. It almost feels risky to not do it because we\u2019re looking at the future, and the deal starts in [20]29, so that\u2019s our 101st Oscars. And with each month, a larger percentage of the TV-watching audience is on YouTube, and those numbers are increasing. So I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a risk. We have a great partnership with Disney right now. I have to say they\u2019ve been amazing partners and will continue to be for the next two years. But we\u2019re already deep in discussions with [YouTube CEO] Neal Mohan and his team, so I think you\u2019ll see a very different-looking Oscars that allows you to engage with the show in more interactive and deep ways than we can do right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe responded when Wiseman asked if the deal was lucrative: \u201cIt was a good deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs part of the deal, YouTube will broadcast not only the Oscars ceremony itself \u2014 which generated $150 million in revenue for the Academy from 2024 to 2025, the vast majority via the TV rights deal with Disney \u2014 but also a significant amount of related content. Also coming to YouTube: red carpet pre-show and behind-the-scenes in-show content; the Oscar nominations announcement; the Governors Awards, at which the Academy presents honorary Oscars and occasionally the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award; the Oscars Nominees Luncheon; the Student Academy Awards ceremony; the Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony; Academy member and filmmaker interviews; film education programs; podcasts and more.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe TV audience for the 2026 Oscars declined<\/a>, drawing 17.86 million viewers on ABC and Hulu, based on Nielsen\u2019s big data plus panel ratings. That\u2019s down about 9 percent from 2025\u2019s Oscars, which drew 19.69 million viewers for a post-pandemic high, and the smallest audience for the awards since 2022, when 16.68 million people watched.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 22nd Zurich Film Festival runs Sept. 24-Oct. 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Does AMPAS CEO Bill Kramer feel as though they\u2019re taking a risk by moving the awards ceremony to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[13035,83847,118465,430,156,1019,111,139,69,2584,4139,301660,40857],"class_list":["post-612524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-academy","tag-ampas","tag-bill-kramer","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oscars","tag-youtube","tag-zurich-2026","tag-zurich-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}