Streaming heavyweights Netflix and Amazon are spending gargantuan amounts of money on TV shows, and it's getting results.
On Monday, this year's Golden Globe nominations came out, and the two streaming services combined to snag 40% of the best TV show nominations.
Netflix saw two of its shows nominated for best drama series, "The Crown" and "Stranger Things," while Amazon got two comedy nods, for "Transparent" and "Mozart in the Jungle" (which won the category last year).
Last year, Netflix and Amazon combined for the same percentage of nominations in these categories, though the nominated Netflix series were different: "Orange Is the New Black" and "Narcos."
The only network that beat the streaming giants in top TV show nominations this year was HBO, which got three nominations. Netflix and Amazon individually got as many nominations as all the broadcast networks combined, and more than the cable ones (minus HBO).
If you add HBO into the streaming mix, since you can now buy it a la carte without a cable subscription, streaming services received a whopping 70% of the top show nominations.
Here are the lists for the top TV show categories:
Best TV series, comedy
"Atlanta" — FX
"Black-ish" — ABC
"Mozart In The Jungle" — Amazon
"Transparent" — Amazon
"Veep" — HBO
Best TV series, drama
“The Crown” — Netflix
“Game of Thrones” — HBO
“Stranger Things” — Netflix
“This Is Us” — NBC
“Westworld” — HBO
Netflix and Amazon didn't fare quite as well with the TV acting nominations, though they both got three. And it's worth noting that Netflix only got five total TV nominations, less than its tally last year. But Netflix has a chance to actually win a Golden Globe for one of the outstanding series categories, something it has never done. That's likely one reason Netflix shelled out a reported $130 million for "The Crown."
Here's a rundown of the acting nods:
Netflix acting nominations
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John Lithgow, "The Crown"
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Claire Foy, "The Crown"
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Winona Ryder, "Stranger Things"
Amazon acting nominations
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Billy Bob Thornton, “Goliath”
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Jeffrey Tambor, "Transparent"
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Gael García Bernal, "Mozart in the Jungle"
Netflix and Amazon have both been making major investments in original TV. Netflix plans to spend $6 billion on content in 2017, and eventually wants to have about a 50/50 mix between licensed and original content, according to CFO David Wells.
Amazon is doubling its spend on video content in the second half of 2016, compared with last year, according to the company's CFO, Brian Olsavsky. Amazon most recently disclosed its investment amount on video content back in 2014, when it spent $1.3 billion.
Both streaming giants have recently released massive projects. Netflix's opulent drama about Queen Elizabeth II, "The Crown," cost a reported $130 million. And Netflix's head of content, Ted Sarandos, has said that Amazon's new blockbuster Jeremy Clarkson show, "The Grand Tour," cost $250 million.
That investment continues to produce results, at least with critics, and demonstrates that these streaming services are helping to guide the buzz in the TV industry.
If you want to see a more detailed breakdown of how each network fared, there's a good summary post over at Variety.
- Business Insider