Why award shows are leaving network TV for streaming

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Set us as preferred For decades, award shows were the most glamorous events on television.Annual events such as the Oscars and the Emmys gave viewers a front-row seat to their favorite stars in designer clothes, while music award shows featured the hottest artists performing live.But in recent years, the shows have become money losers and the network TV business — faced with a decline in viewers that is squeezing profits — are cutting them loose.

Hollywood Inc.Amazon will stream the annual awards fest for at least six years, beginning in 2027The latest evidence of that surfaced this week when the TV Academy announced a six-year deal with Amazon Prime Video.Amazon will be the home of the Emmy Awards next year, ending more than seven decades of the ceremony airing on broadcast networks.

The Oscars are headed to YouTube in 2029, as ABC passed on renewing its rights deal, ending a relationship that dates back to 1961, interrupted only by a five-year return to NBC in the 1970s.They join the other trophy shows that have headed to streaming platforms in recent years.The Actor Awards (formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards) moved to Netflix in 2024, after a test run on the streamer’s YouTube channel the year before, following more than two decades on TNT and TBS, while the Academy of Country Music Awards have been on Prime Video since 2022, ending its run on CBS.The reasons behind the shift to streaming are clear.

The shows no longer deliver the ratings necessary to attract enough ad revenue to cover their costs on broadcast networks, which include rights fees and production costs.“The value proposition got turned upside down,” said Kelly Kahl, former entertainment president for CBS.

“If you look over the last 10 years, the ratings for all of them have dropped through the floor, but the prices have not.”The...