Forget Pewdiepie, Youtube Will Become The Exclusive Home Of The...

The partnership includes the Oscars ceremony as well as worldwide access to "other Academy events and programs."

Score another one for YouTube: Despite what sometimes feels like an ongoing active effort to make it unpleasant to use, the platform that helped make a star out of guys like Pewdiepie, Dr. Disrespect, and Mr. Beast has made a big move into the mainstream media ecosystem with today's announcement that it will soon be the exclusive home for the Academy Awards.

That's right, beginning in 2029 the Oscars, "including red carpet coverage, behind-the-scenes content, Governors Ball access, and more," will be available exclusively on YouTube.

"The partnership also will include worldwide access for film fans to other Academy events and programs exclusively on the Oscars YouTube channel," the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said. "This will include the Governors Awards, the Oscars Nominations Announcement, the Oscars Nominees Luncheon, the Student Academy Awards, the Scientific and Technical Awards, Academy member and filmmaker interviews, film education programs, podcasts, and more.

"In addition, through this holistic partnership, the Google Arts & Culture initiative will help provide digital access to select Academy Museum exhibitions and programs and help to digitize components of the Academy Collection—the largest film-related collection in the world, with more than 52 million items. It will be a true hub for film fans and will be accessible from around the world."

The Academy Collection is indeed a notable archive of film history, containing everything from Oscar-nominated films to manuscripts, film-related books and periodicals, photos, posters, manuscripts, and more. As far as long-term impact, digitizing those materials might be the most significant outcome of this partnership.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said in February that the online video platform had become "the new television," and he seemed correct—in the sense that it's riddled with inescapable ads that everybody hates (but that nonetheless make a ton of money) and appears increasingly concerned with ensuring that nobody under 18 is exposed to anything edgier than old episodes of Three's Company.

Setting aside the exaggeration-for-effect, this deal with the Academy is presumably closer to what Mohan actually meant: That YouTube is no longer the domain of computer nerds looking for old Tech TV clips, but is now running with the big dogs, like ABC—the current-but-soon-former ho

Source: PC Gamer