The shifting demographics in TV viewing is always changing. And we judge the shifting by which network wins awards. Up until the 90s, the main source of viewing television was from an antenna. That changed in 1999 when HBO’s The Sopranos won two Emmy awards: one for best actress and the other for best writing. The new millennium ushered a new trend in TV viewing that shifted to cable – mostly premium channel HBO – and it was the best way to watch TV until last night.
Amazon Studios was the biggest winner at last night’s Golden Globes and the studio finally found a show that was worth watching, unlike the other shows Amazon tried and failed. The show Transparent was nominated twice and won both awards: Jeffrey Tambor won best actor in a TV series, musical or comedy and the overall winner – best TV series, musical or comedy.
Netflix was nominated seven times and only took home one win – Kevin Spacey for best actor in a TV drama series. While it was a disappointed night for Netflix, they still managed to win in a big category. It would have been a bigger disappointing night if Netflix came up empty handed.
Just like in 1999 when HBO won awards and started the trend of shifting TV viewing from broadcast TV to cable, this was a big night for streaming services. It also confirms cable’s worst nightmare, the shifting of TV viewing from cable to streaming.