Conan O’Brien Returns to Host Oscars for Third Straight Year

The Academy is keeping Conan O’Brien in place for a third straight Oscars, a clear sign that Hollywood’s biggest awards show now values continuity as much as spectacle. The 99th Academy Awards will air live on ABC and Hulu on Sunday, March 14, 2027, from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, with O’Brien returning after back-to-back well-received telecasts that helped steady the ceremony’s tone and keep viewers engaged.

The renewal goes well beyond the host. Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan will return as executive producers for a fourth consecutive year, while Jeff Ross and Mike Sweeney are coming back as producers for a third time. Sweeney will also write for the show. Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Lynette Howell Taylor said the team has delivered “captivating, entertaining and heartfelt shows” over the last two years, language that signals the organization is prioritizing a proven creative structure instead of reopening the search for a new formula.

That strategy makes sense in a fragmented television market where awards shows fight for attention against streaming, sports and social media. O’Brien’s 2025 Oscars drew 19.69 million viewers across ABC and Hulu after Disney expanded viewing to PCs and mobile devices. The 2026 telecast slipped to 17.86 million viewers across ABC and Hulu, a four-year low, but still far above most award shows. Nielsen said the March 2025 Oscars was the most-watched program of that month with 20.3 million viewers across ABC and Hulu, underscoring why Disney and the Academy remain committed to a broadcast that can still command a mass audience when packaged across platforms.

Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich said O’Brien created “remarkable energy” around the Oscars and that his “singular comedic voice” helps make the ceremony one of Hollywood’s most entertaining celebrations. That assessment gets to the business case for O’Brien: he is familiar enough to feel safe, but sharp enough to give the show personality in a year when the Academy cannot afford to look stiff or self-important. His return also keeps the Oscars aligned with Disney’s broader entertainment strategy, using ABC and Hulu together to preserve reach while building a more flexible viewing model.

The Academy had already announced on April 7, 2026, that ABC and Hulu would carry both the 99th Oscars in 2027 and the 100th Oscars in 2028. With O’Brien back, the organization is signaling that the next phase of the ceremony will be built on repetition, trust and a known on-air voice rather than another reset.