When Academy CEO Bill Kramer tells The Guardian that on YouTube the Oscars “can reach 2.5bn people at once,” he is not describing a happy accident. He is describing a retreat. Broadcast ratings and ad revenue no longer justify the show; the 2.5 billion figure is a bargaining chip and a lifeline, and the pivot to YouTube is the Academy admitting that linear TV cannot carry the ceremony anymore.
The Academy Is Chasing Reach and Relevance Because Broadcast No Longer Pays the Bills
In a March 2026 interview with The Guardian, Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, framed the Oscars’ move to YouTube as an opportunity: starting in 2029, the ceremony will stream exclusively on YouTube, reaching 2.5 billion people globally and broadcasting in 30-plus languages. He noted that many viewers already watch YouTube on their TVs, so the experience would not feel radically different. But the subtext is clearer than the pitch. The Guardian piece ran alongside his comments on AI, 4am starts, and the Academy’s role in a fragmenting industry. NPR and the Hollywood Reporter have reported that Oscars viewership has failed to crack 20 million viewers from 2021 through 2025, down from a historical norm of around 50 million in the 1980s and 1990s. Adweek and Yahoo Finance note that Disney sold out ad inventory for the 2026 Oscars and that streaming revenue for the ceremony grew 76% year-over-year, with 30-second spots commanding over $2 million. The money is shifting to streaming because the audience has already left broadcast. Kramer’s 2.5 billion is the number you cite when linear TV can no longer deliver the scale the brand needs. The Academy is not leading the audience; it is chasing it.
Broadcast Ratings and Ad Revenue No Longer Justify the Show
The Observer and industry reporting have documented the Oscars’ long slide in cultural relevance and ratings. Four of the 2026 Best Picture nominees earned under $50 million worldwide; two were Netflix exclusives. The ceremony is no longer the tentpole that pulls the whole industry together. Kramer has expressed optimism that streaming would help “defy gravity” on ratings, but the Hollywood Reporter notes that Academy revenue from the Oscars reached $150 million in fiscal 2025 while the organization trimmed expenses. The financial story is one of consolidation and adaptation, not growth in the old model. AP News and the Hollywood Reporter have reported that the Academy will continue its ABC partnership for three more ceremonies before the YouTube transition, with Kramer framing the shift as a “continued strong partnership” rather than a breakup. Even so, the direction is clear: the show is moving to where the audience and the money already are. The Guardian interview positions YouTube as the place where the Oscars can “meet audiences where they are right now.” That language is the language of a seller who has lost leverage. When broadcast was the only game in town, the Academy did not have to meet anyone anywhere; the audience came to the show. The 2.5 billion figure is a way of saying that the future is global and digital, and that linear TV is no longer the future. It is a bargaining chip with partners, with advertisers, and with the board: look how big we can be if we leave the old model behind.
What This Actually Means
Bill Kramer’s YouTube pitch is not a bold bet on the future. It is the Academy’s admission that broadcast ratings and ad revenue no longer justify the show. The 2.5 billion reach is real in theory, but it is also a narrative: we are not shrinking, we are going global. The desperate pivot away from linear TV is the right move under the circumstances, but it is still a pivot born of necessity. The Oscars are chasing relevance because they can no longer assume it.
Who Is Bill Kramer?
Disney and the Academy have not disclosed exact revenue splits between broadcast and streaming for the 2026 ceremony. What is clear from Adweek and industry coverage is that the 2.5 billion figure is a forward-looking claim about YouTube’s reach, not current Oscars viewership. The Academy is betting that a single global simulcast can replace the declining broadcast audience with a larger, if more fragmented, digital one. Whether that bet pays off will depend on whether advertisers and partners value global reach over the concentrated audience that linear TV once delivered.
Who Is Bill Kramer?
Bill Kramer is the CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a role he took on in 2022. He previously worked in fundraising at the Academy Museum and, before that, in external development. He has a business degree from Columbia and worked for the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York before being recruited by Robert Redford to Sundance. In 2026 he led the Academy’s announcement that the Oscars would move to YouTube exclusively starting in 2029.
Sources
The Guardian, NPR, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, The Observer