Hulu subscribers watching the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night were outraged when the streaming service ended its broadcast before the show was actually over. Viewers saw a “thank you for watching” message that falsely claimed “the live event has now ended” — despite the fact that the Best Actress and Best Picture Oscars were still to come. Social media platforms and the Hulu subreddit immediately lit up with complaints and threats of cancellation.
It turned out to be a rough night for the Disney-owned service. A few hours earlier, Hulu acknowledged that some customers were having issues logging in: that problem was rectified slightly before 9PM ET. But shutting off the live stream ahead of the evening’s biggest prizes was an even more embarrassing blunder. The error likely stems from Hulu giving the Oscars stream a set ending time of 10:32PM. That’s exactly when viewers were kicked out of the stream.
As usual, several acceptance speeches ran long on Sunday night, and Hulu’s chosen cutoff time didn’t allow enough wiggle room for an often-unpredictable broadcast. I don’t know how we’re still having these streaming mishaps in 2025 — especially from the company that owns the rights to the Oscars telecast — but here we are. As usual, cable viewers and those watching with a TV antenna were spared from the technical difficulties.
The Verge has reached out to Hulu for an explanation as to just what went wrong on Hollywood’s biggest night. The situation is reminiscent of Super Bowl LII in 2018, when Hulu similarly ended its live broadcast (in some markets) before the game had concluded.
