SVODs Steal Limelight At Oscars As Netflix Gets 7, Facebook Wins First Award

The rising popularity of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms was once more evident as Netflix Inc. NFLX won seven Oscar awards and Walt Disney Co. DIS took home five awards. Amazon.com Inc. AMZN Prime Video recorded two Oscar wins.

What Happened: At the 93rd annual Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Netflix won awards in the Live Action Short category for “Two Distant Strangers” and in the best animated short category for “If Anything Happens I Love You.” The best documentary award also went to Netflix for “My Octopus Teacher.”

In addition, the streaming giant won two Oscars for the best hairstyling and makeup as well as best costume design for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and also took home a couple of awards for “Mank.”

Heading into the awards ceremony, Netflix led this year’s field with 36 overall Oscar nominations across 17 films. The streaming service has nearly doubled its Oscars tally, having previously won a total of eight Academy Awards.

See Also: How Netflix Is Preparing To Combat The 'Lighter Content Slate' That Affected Q1 Growth

Among other streaming services, Disney took home the second-largest haul of five awards, including three awards for “Nomadland” and two wins for “Soul.”

Amazon Prime won two Oscars for sound, as well as film editing for “Sound of Metal.”

Chloe Zhao won the best director award for “Nomadland,” becoming the first woman of color and also only the second woman to win the award. “Nomadland” also won the top prize of the night, for the best picture.

Anthony Hopkins won the best actor award for his performance in “The Father.” The late Chadwick Boseman had been heavily favored to win the award for his role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Frances McDormand won a third best-actress Oscar for her role in “Nomadland.”

Facebook Inc FB also scored its first win at Oscars with subsidiary Oculus Studios' "Colette," produced in partnership with Electronic Arts Inc.'s EA Respawn Entertainment, won the award in the Documentary Short category.

See also: How to Buy Netflix Stock

Why It Matters: Netflix and Disney’s win of the awards highlights the rising popularity of SVODs, which have emerged as big winners amid the pandemic.

Online streaming services have seen a surge in demand due to the closure of theaters and people being forced to stay at home due to coronavirus-induced lockdowns. Netflix and Walt Disney’s Disney+, now boast of having millions of subscribers globally.

Netflix created history earlier this month when it became the first SVOD platform to bag the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) ensemble award.

Netflix and Disney Plus took home most of the 78th Golden Globe awards announced in February this year.

Price Action: Netflix shares closed 0.6% lower on Friday at $505.55, while Disney shares closed 0.1 higher at $183.02 and Amazon shares closed almost 1% higher at $3,340.88.

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