Thousands of Hulu subscribers faced technical difficulties accessing the livestream of the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday, marking the first time the ceremony was available via streaming.The streaming service encountered widespread outages, affecting viewers just before the announcement of the Best Picture winner.
The Oscars began at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, airing on ABC and streaming live on Hulu, a part of Disney’s streaming portfolio. However, by 4:24 p.m. PT, more than 34,000 Hulu users had reported issues, according to Downdetector, a site that tracks online outages. Hulu’s official support account on X (formerly Twitter) acknowledged the problem at 4:39 p.m. PT, assuring users that the team was working to resolve the issue.
As of 5:48 p.m. PT, Hulu Support confirmed that the issue had been identified and that users affected by the disruption could log back in soon. Hulu recommended rebooting devices to restore access to the livestream. Despite this, many subscribers continued to report issues, with some unable to view the Oscars when the show resumed at 7:40 p.m. PT. The stream ended abruptly for them with a message stating, “the live event has now ended,” despite the telecast running long.
Hulu explained the technical failure was related to a scheduling system error. The Oscars show, which typically runs longer than scheduled, caused the stream to cut off early for certain subscribers.
In a statement, a Disney spokesperson apologized for the disruption, noting that a full replay of the event would be made available. This year marked the first time the Oscars were livestreamed on Hulu, a move aimed at broadening the ceremony's audience.
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