The Emmys already have a date to leave the big American networks: in 2027 they will be broadcast on Prime Video and any viewer will be able to watch them for free, even without a subscription. The Television Academy and Amazon announced the agreement on October 6. The Oscars had taken the first major step: their ceremony will move to YouTube in 2029. Two Hollywood institutions have chosen to leave conventional television, but the platforms that acquire them will not require payment to view them.
The decision comes after a decade of challenges for audiences. In 2016, the Oscars drew about 34.4 million viewers in the United States; in 2026 they reached 17.9 million. The Emmys fell from 11.3 to 6.7 million in the same interval. The comparison prepared by ActualTV shows declines of roughly 48% and 41%, respectively. These are audience figures for broadcasts measured in the United States, not the global reach of the awards across all screens.
Methodology. ActualTV’s comparison and calculation use figures published in 2016 for the Oscars, 2026 for the Oscars, 2016 for the Emmys and 2026 for the Emmys. Variation: (audience of 2026 / audience of 2016 – 1) × 100, rounded. The measurement windows and methodologies are not necessarily identical between the two dates, so these percentages describe the trend in broadcasts, not an exact drop in the total audience for the brands.
The decline has not been constant either. The galas hit lows during the pandemic and later recovered some viewers. The Emmys, for instance, reached 4.3 million in January 2024 and then rebounded. The data do indicate that the reach of the ceremony as a major American television event is today much smaller than a decade ago.
The audience, however, has not necessarily stopped caring about the results. Reuters reported that the 2026 Oscars audience fell 9% year on year, while ABC announced a 42% rise in social media impressions. An impression is not a person and should not be added to Nielsen’s figure. It does show that conversation around the awards circulates outside the original broadcast: speeches, surprises and video clips extend the commercial and cultural life of a gala.
Prime Video and YouTube: the difference between selling tickets and gaining reach
So far the Emmys were rotated among ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. The deal announced by the Television Academy ends that model: Prime Video will be their global home for six years, starting September 2027. The live broadcast will be free, with no subscription required, in more than 240 countries and territories. ActualTV has already explained what that access means for the Spanish audience.
The Oscars have agreed something different. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed on December 17, 2025 that YouTube will hold global rights to the ceremony from 2029 to 2033. ABC will still broadcast the galas in 2027 and 2028. The deal includes red carpet, behind-the-scenes content and other Academy activities: it is not limited to a few hours of television each spring.
The models are not identical. YouTube aims to consolidate itself as a platform for big live events open to a global audience. Amazon adds a free-to-watch element to a landscape usually tied to Prime subscriptions. In both cases, removing the paywall widens the potential audience and allows a cultural brand to continue to generate attention after the broadcast.
That viewers do not pay does not mean the gala lacks commercial value. These events can open opportunities for advertising and sponsorship, drive traffic to other content, and strengthen the relationship with users. They are potential monetization avenues, not revenues that the companies have publicly disclosed for these contracts. There are also no official comparable data to assert how much each platform will earn per viewer or whether it will recoup its investment.
The other potential beneficiary is the academy itself—the body that awards the prizes. A global and stable partner can distribute the ceremony and turn surrounding content into recognizable programming throughout the year. The institution gains continuity compared to the model of changing networks periodically, though it remains to be seen whether this translates into more viewers.
Netflix and Disney demonstrate that platforms are not pursuing the same thing
The shift of the Emmys and Oscars does not mean that all galas are moving to the internet in the same way. The actors’ awards, rebranded as Actor Awards, have been streamed on Netflix since 2024. The platform has already confirmed its broadcasts for 2027 and 2028; in that case, access is typically based on a subscription.
The Grammys have taken a different path. The Recording Academy signed a ten-year deal with Disney that will begin in 2027 and will keep the ceremony simultaneously on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu. Traditional television is not eliminated but integrated into the group’s digital distribution.
| Awards | Destination | Announced access type |
|---|---|---|
| Oscars | YouTube, from 2029 | Free, global |
| Emmy Awards | Prime Video, from 2027 | Free, no subscription, global |
| Actor Awards (formerly SAG) | Netflix, from 2024 | Subscription service |
| Grammys | ABC, Disney+ and Hulu, from 2027 | Combined TV and platforms model |
ActualTV comparison based on official announcements. Access to services may vary by territory, especially for the Grammys.
The pattern is not that the ceremonies have stopped being interesting, but that each distributor finds a different usefulness in an event that gathers live attention: broad reach, appeal to subscribers, or a presence across multiple channels at once. The audience figure, however important, no longer exhausts the rights’ value.
What changes for Spain and what Hollywood has at stake
For the Spanish viewer, the main novelty is concrete: the two major academies have promised a free and global way to follow their galas. That will not end the late-night scheduling derived from U.S. programming, but it will reduce dependence on local distribution deals and TV bundles to watch the live broadcast.
For audiovisual companies there is another potential advantage: a gala gathers for a few hours audiences who consume films and series on services that differ. The awards spark interest in titles the viewer may not yet know.
It remains to be shown whether Prime Video and YouTube turn that reach into sustainable results. No contractual announcement replaces the consumption and return data that will need to be known after the first broadcasts. But the sense of the change is already clear: the big galas have not lost all their value; what is changing is how to distribute it and charge for it, directly or indirectly. Hollywood has just placed two of its most recognizable brands at the center of that experiment.
