After earning rave reviews for his stint hosting the Oscars earlier this month, Conan O’Brien will return to host the 2026 ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC said Monday.
“The only reason I’m hosting ‘The Oscars’ next year is that I want to hear Adrien Brody finish his speech,” O’Brien said in a statement.
The academy typically unveils its show emcee in late fall. By announcing O’Brien’s return to host the 98th Academy Awards nearly a year in advance, the academy and Walt Disney Co.’s ABC broadcast network are sending a vote of confidence for the quirky comedian.
O’Brien’s humor during this year’s show was well received, and compared with many comics, he’s not a political lightning rod. The 97th Academy Award telecast also saw a slight audience bump despite the lack of blockbuster box-office hits among the front-runner movies.
The show averaged 19.7 million viewers for ABC and streaming service Hulu, an increase of about 200,000 audience members from the 2024 show.
That marked the Oscar’s best performance in five years. The show also boasted a large audience among viewers aged 18 to 49, the preferred demographic of advertisers.
“Conan was the perfect host — skillfully guiding us through the evening with humor, warmth and reverence,” academy Chief Executive Bill Kramer and academy President Janet Yang said in a statement announcing the return engagement.
The program ran long — 3 hours and 45 minutes — despite O’Brien’s cheeky assurances early in the show that he would not waste time. Brody, who won lead actor for “The Brutalist,” gave the longest acceptance speech in Oscar history, clocking in at 5 minutes and 36 seconds. By that time, the show was already running long.
Television producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan will also return as executive producers for a third straight year. Producers Jeff Ross and Mike Sweeney will be back for a second time. Sweeney will also serve as a writer.
“This year, they produced a hugely entertaining and visually stunning show that celebrated our nominees and the global film community in the most beautiful and impactful way,” Kramer and Yang said of the team, including O’Brien.
The Emmy-winning host is a television variety show veteran, hosting the late-night talk shows “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and “Conan.” Previously, he served as a writer for “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons.” He currently hosts the “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” podcast.
The Oscars will air on ABC on March 15 at 4 p.m. Pacific time.
The two sides did not say whether Hulu would again stream the Oscars.
The Disney-owned streamer’s inaugural attempt was marred by technical glitches that left thousands of Hulu subscribers missing key moments from the show.
ABC has televised the awards show for nearly a half-century, and is entering the final phase of its deal to broadcast the Oscars. The current contract, which was struck in 2016, allows ABC to televise the Oscars through 2028 — the year of the show’s 100th anniversary.
It’s unclear whether the academy and Disney will renew the pact to keep the Oscars on ABC.
The academy relies heavily on revenue from Disney. In 2023, the academy reported total revenue of nearly $158 million, according to tax filings. More than 90% of that came from its television contracts for the Oscars.
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