Among the various entertainment platforms, streaming services have become the dominant force is shaping popular culture. Over the past 12 months, this sector has brought forth programming that has invigorated home audiences (think of “Squid Game,” “Bridgerton” and “The Beatles: Get Back,” among countless others) and dominated the news headlines with controversies (Tucker Carlson's three-part Fox Nation series on the Jan. 6 siege, the brouhaha over Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer” special or the Scarlett Johansson lawsuit from last summer over the simultaneous theatrical and streaming releases of “Black Widow” by the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).)
The streaming services, which were promoted during the height of the pandemic as an alternative entertainment source when movie theaters were closed, are now the dominant force in the most prestigious center of the film world – in this year’s Academy Award nominations, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) emerged as the powerhouse studios, gaining multiple nominations for such films as “The Power of the Dog,” “CODA,” “Don’t Look Up” and “Being the Ricardos.”
