Netflix will stream a live awards show for the first time
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business
Netflix will air a live awards show for the first time, marking the streamer’s latest expansion into live programming and further cementing its influence in Hollywood.
Beginning in 2024, the Screen Actors Guild Awards will be live-streamed globally on Netflix as part of a new, multi-year partnership. The awards show previously aired on cable television on TNT since 1998, which is also owned by CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
The awards honor the best performances in film and television and are voted on by the more than 120,000 members of the guild. They’re typically less extravagant and watched by fewer people than awards shows like the Oscars and Golden Globes.
“The SAG Awards are beloved by the creative community and viewers alike, and now even more fans around the world will be able to celebrate these talented actors,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s head of global TV, in a statement.
This year’s 29th Annual SAG Awards will stream live for the first time on Netflix’s YouTube channel on Sunday, February 26 at 8 pm ET. Nominees for the upcoming awards are being announced Wednesday.
It’s not the first awards show to jump from traditional TV to streaming. The Academy of Country Music Awards switched from CBS to Amazon’s Prime Video in 2022 and will once again stream live on the service this year.
Netflix is slowly exploring airing live events on the platform: The company’s first live event will be a Chris Rock standup special airing on March 4 at 10 pm ET. Adding live events could help Netflix stand out against rivals as it fights to keep adding subscribers in an increasingly crowded market.
“As we’ve long said, we operate in a highly competitive industry, where people have many different entertainment choices — from linear TV to streaming, YouTube to TikTok and gaming to social media,” Netflix wrote in its most recent earnings report. “The silver lining is that the opportunity is very large and growing.”
Netflix, however, has so far resisted embracing certain live events, including sports, which are notoriously expensive to acquire.
“The economic models that are built around [live sports] are built around the economics of pay television, which are different than streaming,” said Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO, last month at an investor conference. “We’re not anti-sports, we’re just pro-profits.”
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