The 81st Golden Globe Awards took place in California on January 7th, an annual event where the Hollywood Foreign Press Association celebrates achievements in the film and television industry. The official broadcast of the Golden Globes aired on CBS, and Streams Charts tracked how the event was covered by streamers on global live streaming platforms like Twitch or YouTube.
This year, the biographical thriller "Oppenheimer", directed by Christopher Nolan, emerged as the big winner of the Golden Globe. The film won five out of seven nominations, including Best Drama Motion Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Leading Role. Three films — the dark comedy "Poor Things", the drama "Anatomy of a Fall", and the Christmas comedy "The Holdovers" — each received two awards. Meanwhile, "Barbie", "The Boy and the Heron", and "Killers of the Flower Moon" each earned one accolade.
Golden Globe 2024 coverage in live streaming
A joint official pre-show broadcast for the 2024 Golden Globe took place on YouTube channels of Variety and Entertainment Tonight. Broadcasts featured interviews with actors on the red carpet, discussions about the attire, appearances of celebrity guests, and more. While these broadcasts didn't show the actual ceremony, they still managed to attract 62.5K and 58K Peak Viewers, respectively. Associated Press, Beyond The Trailer, Royal Sussex, and other YouTube channels also hosted streams dedicated to the event. Still, their audience reach was ten times smaller compared to Variety and ET. As for Twitch, the platform had minimal coverage of the Golden Globe Awards ceremony.
The streamer Caroline Kwan from the USA gathered the largest audience, slightly over 5.2K Peak Viewers; however, all her content was taken down at the request of the copyright holders. Streamer Regelegorila didn't cover the ceremony itself but shared his reactions with viewers; he discussed nominees and made predictions, but did not show the ceremony or pre-show. The streamer spent over five hours on air but managed to attract a maximum of only 260 people during the stream's peak.
The number of mentions of the ceremony in Twitch chats turned out to be quite small. Over two days (January 7th and 8th), the ceremony was only mentioned in 596 messages, and the count surged significantly only after the awards were presented. On the January 7th, there were merely 38 messages, but after the winners were announced, the number of messages escalated to over 550. The majority of these were posted on HasanAbi's channel, a popular American Twitch streamer who covers global news.
To put the Golden Globe numbers into perspective, the mentions of "Oscar" on the day of the ceremony, March 13th, totaled around 15.1K. Academy Awards is obviously the most prestigious award in the film industry, but the difference in mentions might appear quite striking to some, as Golden Globe is considered the second-most-presitigions film awards in the world. Moreover, even 76th British Academy Film Awards held February last year was more discussed by Twitch users than Golden Globe Awards 2024.
Similar dynamics were observed with the film "Oppenheimer," which won the most awards at the recent Golden Globe. Between June 7th and 8th, there were about 1.6K mentions of the film's name on Twitch — 490 messages before the ceremony and over 1.1K messages the day after its conclusion.
Despite a generally weak interest, there is an audience on Twitch that follows such events. However, the organizers of the ceremony failed to engage with this audience. The popularity of the Golden Globe Awards has gradually declined over the years, and to reverse this trend, it's necessary to attract a younger audience that looks up to different idols, such as top streamers or popular content creators.
Many celebrities from the film industry still prefer to work through 'classic' sources like television and social media, although these formats become more and more outdated with each passing year. As of now, the showbiz industry underestimates streaming services as platforms for engaging with a younger audience. The Golden Globe organizers didn't make additional efforts to shed light on the event beyond traditional channels and platforms, despite there are several successful examples of doing so.
Examples of successful collaborations between live streaming and other industries
Numerous great examples of collaborations with other industries exist in live streaming, particularly with sports. One notable instance is the involvement of the popular American streamer IShowSpeed in covering the Ballon d'Or 2023. This flamboyant YouTuber traveled to France for the event, conducted several interviews with football stars, showcased behind-the-scenes moments of the ceremony, and more. The Ballon d'Or 2023 ceremony turned out to be the most popular according to Google Trends data over the past five years. It's challenging to gauge IShowSpeed's exact impact but searches for Ballon d'Or among U.S. users tripled compared to 2022.
IShowSpeed on Ballon d'Or 2023 ceremony (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP)
There's a striking reverse example when big sports stars helped boost the events of popular streamers. This was evident in the Spanish Media Football League, Kings League, which invited football legends like Ronaldinho, Shevchenko, and others as guests to their matches. Thanks to these cameos, the league amassed hundreds of thousands of viewers during broadcasts and became one of the primary phenomenon on Twitch in 2023.
Previously, Twitch has streamed major sporting events such as English Premier League matches, Thursday Night Football, and more. Twitch also serves as the official streaming partner for USA Basketball. Adding to this list are virtual concerts by popular artists, trailer premieres, and even early movie screenings within Fortnite. These events were also actively covered on Twitch, YouTube, and other streaming platforms.
These collaborations have demonstrated a massive reach among younger audiences. The Golden Globe organizers could learn from these examples. While exclusive deals with television networks may bring in more money, expanding beyond a single platform or channel is crucial to increasing viewership.
