A new entertainment world order

Streaming companies are taking over as dominant players in film and television, forcing traditional entertainment companies to invest more.

Driving the news: Broadcast networks were shut out of Golden Globe nominations yesterday, while Netflix received 17 nominations for its TV hits.

• Premium cable networks, like Showtime and HBO, which typically dominate nominations, also received fewer combined nominations than Netflix.

Yes, but: The Golden Globes will still air on NBC, a broadcast network.

• That's because broadcast networks are still the most reliable places that award show creators, sports leagues and news producers can find a reliable live audience.
• That's why TV advertising continues to command higher rates, according to a new report from ad-buying agency MAGNA.

Cable networks, which can't be accessed "over the air" through free TV antennas, are much more susceptible than broadcast channels to the viewership declines from cord-cutting.

• Case-in-point: NBA ratings are falling heavily this season compared to their NFL counterparts. NBA games air mostly on cable, while NFL games air mostly on broadcast.

Be smart: Measurement still needs to be sorted out for streaming.

• Part of why advertisers are still willing to invest heavily is they can reliable measure TV consumption across networks via Nielsen ratings, but streaming is proving much harder to measure.
• Nielsen debuted streaming ratings last year.
• At first, Netflix denounced them. But signs show that they are warming up to the idea of having a reputable third-party measure the success of their content against their competitors.
• Nielsen said last week that Netflix's new hit movie "The Irishman" was streamed by 17 million in the U.S. in the first 5 days. Netflix didn't outwardly dispute the stat.

Between the lines: It will be hard for a company like Nielsen, which measures a sample of households only in the U.S., to paint a perfect picture of Netflix's total audience, which is mostly international.

The big picture: Many of the traditional TV networks and film studios will have to wait some time before they see any of their investments pay off.

• For example, Comcast CFO Michael Cavanagh said at an investor conference Monday that Comcast/NBCUniversal's new streaming service Peacock could be break-even in five years .

At the box office, film studios are investing more in major franchises that tend to wade heavily into action and adventure franchises, which are better experienced in a big-screen theater,

• Disney, which has invested in expanding its franchise portfolio in the past few years, raked in more than $10 billion this year in box office sales, a new record.

Go deeper:

• Netflix's international growth trouble
• Disney breaks $10 billion box office record
• Netflix leads Golden Globe nominations for TV and film