Sitting down with the world in the world’s bedroom (or the Zurich Film Festival, if you want to be literal about it), Kramer laid out the facts of the Oscars’ move to the online platform like any father would discuss a family move to their loved ones. “It almost feels risky not to do it,” Kramer said at the festival’s ostentatiously named panel, “The Theatrical Box Office Resurgence! How to Get Audiences’ Attention in the Era of Social Media and Online Platforms?”, which also featured Backrooms director Kane Parsons, Mattel president and CCO Robbie Brenner, and Sony Classics co-president Michael Barker. “As we become more global as an organization, the best way for us to reach a global audience of film lovers, film fans, [and] young artists is YouTube.” (Another life fact we all must accept, like how the world does not revolve around us, buster, is that the Oscars would also move to the Peacock Theatre in 2029.)
Like any pop culture dad attempting to smooth over a tricky life-chat, Kramer turned to Parsons to rap a little about how hip (and, yes, fiscally shrewd) YouTube has become. “I think the timing this year—Obsession, Backrooms, you and Curry [Barker—it’s] moving in the other direction from YouTube to theatrical for us; we’re an organization that celebrates theatrical filmmaking, but at the same time, the Oscars is a television show, and we want to reach a large audience.”
Speaking with the remorseful cadence of someone who had just snapped at their kid to finish those damn lima beans, Kramer pivoted to a more upbeat tone, explaining how the Oscars moving to YouTube will be fun, actually—we just have to make a game of it. Explaining to Deadline’s Andreas Wiseman (per The Hollywood Reporter), “We’re looking at the future, and the deal starts in [20]29, so that’s our 101st Oscars. And with each month, a larger percentage of the TV-watching audience is on YouTube, and those numbers are increasing[…] We’re already deep in discussions with [YouTube CEO] Neal Mohan and his team, so I think you’ll see a very different-looking Oscars that allows you to engage with the show in more interactive and deep ways than we can do right now.”
“[This move] gives the Academy more control in engaging with fandom and film lovers and film fans and viewers of the Oscars. Right now more people outside of the U.S. watch the Oscars than in the U.S., and this allows us to capture that audience a lot more,” Kramer continued.
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