Hulu's First-Ever Livestream of the 2025 Oscars Faces Widespread Outages Due to Technical Glitch
Hulu users were left frustrated as the streaming service experienced widespread outages during the 97th Academy Awards on March 2, 2025. At 7:39 p.m. ET, Hulu Support acknowledged the issue on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “Having issues logging in? If so — we’re on it!” and assured users that their team was actively working to resolve the problem.
According to Downdetector, a website that tracks service disruptions, over 34,000 outage reports were logged around 6:30 p.m. ET. This incident marked the first time Hulu was streaming the Oscars live, in addition to the broadcast on ABC.
Frustrated subscribers took to social media to voice their disappointment. One user commented, “So glad I pay $97 a month. Can’t wait to watch the Oscars 🙃 this is the second time this has happened in the last few months. Maybe I’ll switch to @YouTubeTV.” Another posted a photo of an error message on their screen that read, “We’re having trouble loading this right now,” with the caption, “My favorite night of the year ruined by Hulu.”
Meanwhile, Disney confirmed to Deadline on February 28 that all advertising slots for the Oscars broadcast had been sold. The cost of a 30-second ad spot ranged from $1.7 million to $2.3 million, consistent with the previous year. Both ABC’s telecast and Hulu’s stream featured the same advertisements.
For full coverage of the 97th Academy Awards, hosted by Conan O’Brien and aired on ABC, readers can visit PEOPLE or sign up for their free daily newsletter.