Declining broadcast TV ratings and the polarizing impact of the Cancel Culture movement have certainly hurt Hollywood’s Awards Show Industrial Complex of late.
But new research from Reelgood suggests that the decreasingly popular Academy Awards and the embattled Golden Globes still give their respective top contenders a significant audience boost when it comes to next-day streaming.
Reelgood, which directs users to the various streaming platforms to find the shows and movies they’re searching for, found that Nomadland received nearly a 3X audience boost on Hulu immediately after the evening of Feb. 28, when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) named the film the winner of its Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama, while also awarding the film's creative mastermind, Chloé Zhao, Golden Globes for best directing and screenwriting.
Nomadland received a much bigger audience boost right after April 25, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences awarded the movie the Oscar for Best Picture, while also recognizing Zhao and star Frances McDormand. This time, the audience, across Hulu and transactional services, increased by a factor of more than 4X (see chart below).
Reelgood found similarly corresponding audience increases for Netflix awards contenders Mank and The Trial of the Chicago 7, tied to the not just to the actual Golden Globes and Oscar presentations, but also the Oscar nominations.
TV shows also get a boost from awards, Reelgood said. Apple TV Plus hit Ted Lasso, which won Golden Globes for Best TV Series - Comedy or Musical, as well as a Best Actor in a TV Series Golden Globe for star Jason Sudeikis, received a 2.1X day-after-ceremony audience bump.
The data, which Reelgood said is based over 2 million user streams, comes as Hollywood’s annual awards rituals are under increasing existential threat.
ABC’s presentation of the 93rd Annual Academy Awards last month were watched by just 9.85 million viewers, while garnering an anemic 1.9 rating among adults 18-49, an all-time low for an event that generated Super Bowl-liked TV audience numbers not too long ago.
Meanwhile, the HFPA—an organization with obvious flaws that were overlooked by entertainment industry for decades—has come under heightened criticism, not only for an alleged lack of organizational diversity, but also for the behavior of some of its members.
NBC, which has long televised the Golden Globes event, said it won’t present the awards telecast next year.
