How to Watch the Oscars: Start Time & Odds for Top Awards

• The 98th Academy Awards will be held this evening at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, CA
• Typically drawing in tens of millions of viewers, the Academy Awards are the pinnacle of the entertainment industry’s award shows
• Prediction markets allow users to back their favorites for various awards, like Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, amongst a variety of options

Hollywood is buzzing this weekend as nominees flock to the Dolby Theater for a chance to hear their name called at the Academy Awards. Now that all of the other award shows, like the Critics’ Choice Awards, BAFTAs, and the Actors Awards, have concluded, all eyes are on Hollywood’s biggest awards night, the Oscars.

Last year, the Oscars were the most-watched non-news, non-sports, live awards show with 19.69 million viewers. Conan O’Brien is back hosting the Academy Awards this evening and has been preparing his material for the award show at a wide variety of comedy clubs. The award show airs live on ABC, and viewers have multiple streaming options available to watch the Oscars.

With so many great movies in 2025, like One Battle After Another, Sinners, and Hamnet, predicting who will win which award will not be easy this year. However, with prediction markets, viewers can see which movies and actors the public favors to win with real-time data, adding a new layer to watching the Oscars this year.

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How to Watch the Oscars – Broadcast Details for 98th Academy Awards

While Hollywood’s biggest names will be watching the Oscars in person at the Dolby Theater, viewers at home will have several ways to watch the award show. Those with a cable subscription can watch the Academy Awards live on ABC tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET. For those who have cut the cord, there are several options to stream the event live through platforms like Hulu, FuboTV, Sling TV, DIRECTV, and YouTube TV. This year, viewers will not need to have a Hulu + Live TV package to watch the Oscars, as the broadcast will be available to all Hulu subscribers.

• Start Time: 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT
• Venue: Dolby Theater – Los Angeles, California
• Broadcast: ABC
• Streaming: Hulu, FuboTV, SlingTV, DIRECTV, YouTube TV

Check out the latest 2026 Oscars odds to see the field and make your predictions for who will win some of the most prestigious awards this evening.

Turn a Profit with Prediction Markets for the 2026 Oscars

While voting for the Oscars is left to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, viewers at home can stake their opinions on who they think will win by trading on prediction markets. Predictions platforms like Kalshi allow traders to view how markets have evolved over time with a graph that displays each option’s implied win probability at specific times. During awards season, these charts have shown the volatility around certain awards, as surprise wins in major categories have flipped favorites multiple times.

On Kalshi, there have been several clear unanimous favorites like One Battle After Another for Best Picture, Jesse Buckley for Best Actress, and Paul Thomas Anderson for Best Director. Other markets, like Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, have had less certainty on who will take home an Oscar. Traders can also get in on markets outside of who will win which award, with categories like “Who will attend the Oscars?” and “How many Oscars will Sinners win?” With so many major and niche markets, Academy Awards viewers can add a new level of immersion to their watch parties.