The Oscars will finally stream live on an SVOD platform, and it only took us 97 years to get here.
The 2025 Academy Awards will stream live on Hulu in addition to airing live on ABC. It’s actually the first time the Oscars have streamed live on Hulu for all subscribers, despite it being the second Academy Awards for which Disney owned Hulu outright.
Hulu first launched in 2008 as broadcast’s answer to Netflix’s pivot to streaming. It was originally a joint venture for ABC, NBC, and Fox programming (CBS sat this one out), but Disney eventually bought its partners out.
The reason we can’t say the Oscars are streaming live for the first time ever, full stop, is because that wouldn’t technically be true. In a way, the awards have streamed on Hulu before — on Hulu + Live TV.
Hulu + Live TV is the vMVPD offering that essentially replicates a traditional cable package. It is the chief competitor to YouTube TV, which also carries live streams of ABC and hundreds of other channels. In other words, a subscriber to such a virtual MVPD has been able to stream the Oscars live for years now — it’s just a different delivery system (no cord or satellite dish or antenna).
MVPD stands for Multichannel Video Programming Distributor — your cable-television provider. SVOD is subscription video on-demand, and generally refers to ad-free delivery. Hulu also has an AVOD (ad-supported video on-demand) tier, but it still requires a direct subscription payment.
As previously announced, Conan O’Brien will host the 97th Oscars, which are set for Sunday, March 2, 2025 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The live red carpet show kicks off a half-hour earlier.
Raj Kapoor returns as Oscars executive producer and showrunner, Katy Mullan as executive producer, and Hamish Hamilton as director. The 2025 Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.
Last year’s Oscars, the first to begin at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m., averaged 19.5 million total viewers on ABC, the most for the telecast since COVID.
As is the case with all ABC programming, the 2025 Oscars telecast will be made available on Hulu the following day.
