On Feb. 26, Netflix will live stream The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on its YouTube Channel, and starting 2024, on Netflix. 

As part of a multi-year deal, Netflix is partnering with The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) to showcase and honor the best movie and television projects of the year in the SAG Awards show. The ceremony live stream will offer more value to a Netflix subscription as the company continues to explore new ways to engage audiences. 

This is a great opportunity for Netflix to branch out and differentiate itself from its competitors. 

Over a year ago, Netflix introduced premium games for free to its subscribers. Since, critically acclaimed indie games like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT): Shredder’s Revenge” and “Twelve Minutes” have been added to the catalog, adding appeal to a Netflix subscription amid growing competition from HBO, Disney and even Apple. 

Other mass-oriented game subscription services like Google Stadia have failed because they came from companies unfamiliar with the video game industry. These companies tried to revolutionize the way people play their high-budget games despite being inexperienced in the market. Netflix’s approach is by far the most practical. The company knows it is not PlayStation or Xbox, so it is offering smaller-scale, but still popular, indie games to build an audience while testing the waters. 

Netflix’s games are underrated because the company does not market them a lot. It still treats the games as a test for bigger ventures in the future.

Now, the company is venturing into live streaming. It was announced last year that Chris Rock’s next comedy special will be Netflix’s first live stream. Services like Hulu and YouTube TV regularly stream sporting events live but using the format for comedy specials is an interesting idea. 

As the streaming wars phased out, services are experimenting with certain aspects of media to preserve their existing audience, and to stand out. The plethora of services currently available have increased competition in the market, which is always a good thing for consumers.