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The Oscars ceremony will commence airing only on YouTube in 2029, marking the latest significant change in Hollywood.

The organization behind the Oscars made the announcement on Wednesday, confirming that it signed a long-term agreement awarding YouTube the unique international license to the Oscars through 2033.

The Oscars, set for March 15th, has aired for five decades on ABC. Beginning in 2029, the ceremony will be available as a free live stream on YouTube.

This is another major upheaval in Hollywood, which is grappling with corporate acquisitions and consolidations, in addition to severe production cuts.

"The Academy is an worldwide body, and this alliance will allow us to increase availability to the mission of the Academy to the largest worldwide audience attainable - which will be advantageous for our film artists and the cinematic world," stated organization heads in a release.

For many years, viewership of the awards show have declined, although there was a slight uptick in recent years, with a considerable amount of Gen Z and millennial watchers streaming from mobile devices and computers.

In a separate statement, YouTube's CEO called the Oscars "among our vital cultural touchstones" and added that partnering with the Academy would "motivate a new generation of creativity and cinema enthusiasts while adhering to the Oscars' illustrious history".

ABC, which has aired the ceremony since the mid-1970s, commented that it was excited "to hosting the event three more times" it will retain rights for.

This decision comes as film industry giants confront challenging merger discussions. These potential deals were viewed as problematic for an business that has seen severe reductions over the last few years.

Similar to big production houses, traditional TV channels have struggled as the viewers has increasingly opted for streaming services as an alternative.

YouTube winning rights to the Academy Awards strongly indicates that dependence on online services will carry on to grow.