The manner in which entertainment is being delivered to the public has been undergoing a transformation for a number of years now, particularly in the entertainment component that is generically referred to as “television.”
The major broadcast television industry initially had to grapple with the advent of cable television.
Now, however, Internet streaming, which has significantly altered the entertainment landscape, is on the verge of superseding cable as the primary way in which people select their television fare and/or view their favorite digital media.
As part of the kickoff of Hollywood’s award season, two significant organizations recently announced nominees, and the sea change in media consumption that has occurred was clearly illustrated by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Golden Globe nominations.
The SAG Awards are watched closely by the industry as a whole; this is largely due to fact that the membership of SAG overlaps with the acting section of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is the organization that ultimately doles out Oscars.
This year Netflix received ten SAG noms, which is a greater number of nominations than any other Hollywood studio received. No longer seen merely as a provider of original television shows, two of the streaming giant’s nominations were for “Beasts of No Nation,” Netflix’s first feature-length narrative film.
Other nominations were for Netflix’s television content, with eight TV nominations for five original programs: “A Very Murray Christmas,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Daredevil,” and “House of Cards.”
In comparison, HBO, the former awards season champ, received a total of six SAG nominations.
The SAG members also gave two nominations to Amazon’s streaming show, “Transparent.”
In yet another unprecedented industry upset, Netflix received more Golden Globe nominations than former top Globe-getter HBO.
The streaming pioneer garnered nine Golden Globe nominations, edging out HBO’s eight noms.
Netflix’s Globe nominations for original television offerings came from six programs: “Narcos,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “House of Cards,” “Aziz Ansari, Master of None,” “Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie,” and “Bloodline.”
Amazon’s original streaming resulted in five nominations for “Mozart in the Jungle” and “Transparent,” while Hulu received a nomination for “Casual.”
The streams of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu garnered a grand total of 14 Golden Globe nominations for their original programming.
The streaming companies, particularly Netflix, will now have a stronger hand in Hollywood when it comes to attracting the kind of talent necessary to create content that will increase viewership and potentially win future awards.
More importantly, accolades from the award-granting entities may accelerate a trend that the cable industry has been battling, the increasingly popular movement toward “cord-cutting.”
As television watchers search for new programming using a variety of devices, they are at the same time being exposed to a host of unique ideas on the Internet via an endless number of YouTube channels and additional original content by streaming production companies.
The younger demographic, who grew up receiving entertainment on the web free of charge, are frequently avoiding cable subscriptions altogether when they venture out on their own.
The trend of viewing multiple episodes of a favorite television show in a single sitting, which is typically referred to as “binge watching,” is a significant factor in the growth of streaming.
Streamers now cater to the public’s craving by releasing an entire season of a program at one time.
Broadcast networks, e.g., CBS, NBC, and ABC, have complained that the less restrictive ability of premium cable networks, such as HBO, have allowed them to capture the lion’s share of attention during the awards season.
It appears as though cable companies are in the same fix as broadcast television networks were in a previous cycle; that being, cable industry players having to watch the new kid in town slowly overtake the awards scene and maybe even the television industry itself.
James Hirsen, J.D., M.A., in media psychology, is a New York Times best-selling author, media analyst, and law professor. Visit Newsmax TV Hollywood. Read more reports from James Hirsen — Click Here Now.
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