28 Awards shows are the annual TV gifts that keep on giving, boosting revenues for all concerned — even if recent ratings figures don’t show an increase in viewing audiences. At the same time, more and more awards show nominees and winners (even the Oscars) are featuring streamers on their lists. While one can’t argue for a separate category for streamer movies, maybe now is the time to bring streaming awards — or something similar to the old Cable ACE awards — into the small screen awards arena. Yes, it’s another awards show, but one wonders how linear and cable TV executives feel about promoting shows from the streamers on every awards show they air. Meanwhile, feating that industry strikes’ effects will still be hitting, annual awards show organizers and broadcast outlets have scurried their shows to next year in order to hand out this year’s awards (sometimes many months after the actual voting has taken place!) and it appears no one in the awards business has communicated with anyone else on when a show will take place. A free-for-all has taken over, with the International Emmy and Critics Choice Awards taking place within 24 hours of one another, just a week after the Golden Globes. As far as the International Emmy Awards, they will be given out by the New York-based International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on November 20, 2023. Then there is the Hollywood Creative Alliance — formerly the Hollywood Critics Association, which started off as the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society — which will hand out its awards (called the HCA Awards) on January 6, 2024. Meanwhile, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards (part of the Emmy family) are on January 6 and 7, 2024. The Golden Globes will be held on January 7, 2024. They used to be handed out by the HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association), but will now be given out by Dick Clark Productions and its holding company, Eldrige, which acquired all the Golden Globes’ assets, rights, and properties from the HFPA. Critics Choice — which used to be the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and is now known as the Critics Choice Association — will hold its awards show on January 14, 2024. The Emmy Awards will be handed out on January 15, 2024 by the Television Academy. Incidentally, between January 6 and 12, 2024 there will be seven awards shows involving TV/streaming. Those are some of the 21 televised awards shows and 32 TVrelated awards events (plus numerous TV News and Information Awards, along with several Technical Awards) held throughout a normal year. Also on the front lines and anticipated to show a huge year-on-year reduction in annual revenues is the trade press, especially the likes of Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Wrap. According to a story in AdWeek that ran late last year, awards events seriously affect page count — certainly not a secret to anyone. As Dea Lawrence, Variety’s chief operating and marketing officer, said: “Awards shows can triple the page count of the paper.” While no one is going to put that in dollar terms, the same percentage could very well be used for other industry trades, meaning hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue. Could that spell trouble for the future of any of those trade publications? Within that same Ad Week report it was noted that Variety’s ad revenue in 2021 grew 41 percent from the previous year and that the paper was expected to beat that by 20 percent in 2022. Figures for this year will make for interesting reading That said, on August 15, 2023, Variety digitally published a 28-page Award Circuit edition with ads for shows and performers, along with talent interviews that would seem to go against all guild and union rules during the strike — members should not be promoting themselves and projects during the strike, either by giving interviews or having ads featuring them and/or any projects. While TV and print may be losing a great revenue stream, awards have brought additional rewards to performers and shows. A win can bring new viewers to shows, some of which have been critically loved but have not transitioned into the expected viewing response. A “surprise” win can, in turn, become of financial benefit to the performer in question. More money for the awardwinning role, maybe a longer-term contract, more job offers — maybe even a movie role and a starring one at that. Similar advances and benefits can also come the way of writers, producers, directors, and production companies of such shows. Yes, awards shows may not mean much to a viewing audience but they mean everything to those who stand to win one and those who report on and broadcast them. After all of this, another huge question arises. If this year’s awards shows are put on next year’s calendar, where will next year’s awards shows go? If they go later in 2024 will audiences turn off/not care, thinking, “We’ve already seen this”, no matter how much promotion and publicity goes into explaining the situation? Additionally, as the strikes have affected production, will there be new shows/performers/creatives /production companies to consider, or will those prospective contender lists be, basically, a repeat of the last one? This could lead to additional revenue losses for the small screen, as well as those industry publications, and maybe even water down televised awards shows’ viewership even more. Awards Shows: A Win-Win For Talent, A Losing Proposition for Television October 2023 Awards Talks By Mike Reynolds A win can bring new viewers to shows, some of which have been critically loved but have not transitioned into the expected viewing response.
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