Tune in to the Highly Anticipated 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards: Live and Commercial-Free on Netflix
Award Ceremony Celebrates a Milestone Anniversary
Pro tip for Screen Actors Guild Awards viewers: Watch it live. That’s because even those Netflix subscribers on the cheaper advertising tier will still get a commercial-free experience when the telecast runs live on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. After that initial livestream, however, commercial breaks will be inserted into replays for users on the ad tier looking to timeshift and watch the SAG Awards later.
It’s a landmark year for the SAG Awards, for a number of reasons. First off, it’s the 30th anniversary of the event, which returns to the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall — where the kudocast has spent most of its three-decade existence — after two years away. (Last year, it was at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel, and in 2022 it took place at Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar.)
Award Ceremony Rebounds after SAG-AFTRA Strike
Also, it’s the first SAG Awards following last year’s SAG-AFTRA strike and eventual new agreement with the AMPTP. And there’s a new production team behind this year’s SAG Awards: Baz Halpin, Mark Bracco, and Linda Gierahn of Silent House Prods. are joining SAG-AFTRA’s Jon Brockett as exec producers.
Streaming Through a New Era: SAG Awards Officially on Netflix
But perhaps most strikingly, this reps the first official year for the SAG Awards to stream on Netflix. (Last year, due to the last-minute licensing deal between SAG-AFTRA and Netflix, it only ran on Netflix’s YouTube page.) Under the multi-year pact with Netflix, the SAG Awards becomes the latest major event to move from linear to streaming.
Changing Tides: TNets Leave SAG Awards Partnership
Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNets — the arm formerly known as Turner — parted ways with the SAG Awards in 2022 after a 25-year partnership where TNT had run the SAG Awards since 1998, and TBS made it a simulcast in 2007. (NBC aired the first three years of the SAG Awards, which launched in 1995.)
Awaiting the Calulated Success: Awards’ Viewer Numbers
The final SAG Awards on the TNets averaged 1.8 million total viewers in 2022. It’s difficult to say how many people watched the show last year: Although the number reported was 1.5 million views, that’s not an apples-to-apples comparison to the usual Nielsen average number.
And we may never know how many people tune in live to the SAG Awards this Saturday on Netflix — that’s the kind of number the streamer will never share. (The only live streaming event with Nielsen total viewer figures remains Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football.) If the telecast pops up on Nielsen’s or Netflix’s rankers, we’ll get some idea of how it performed, but that’s still a different kind of number than how viewership was reported when the SAG Awards ran on the TNets.
Immersive Viewing and Engaging Acceptance Speeches
This year’s SAG Awards will once again run for two hours, and the commercial-free format follows last year’s run on Netflix’s YouTube page, which was also without ads.
“We’ve been brainstorming a lot of really great ideas for some creative elements and interstitials that sort of take us away from the main stage at different times,” said Mark Bracco, one of the executive producers. Jon Brockett added that because there’s no hard and fast time limit on the streamer, acceptance speeches can go long. The organizers give speakers a general time limit, but if a speech is engaging and compelling, they allow it to go on.
Convenient Replays and Impressive Streaming Performances
The SAG Awards will continue to be available on Netflix for replays up until 28 days after the event when it must be removed from the streamer. Meanwhile, after a few streaming mishaps, Netflix has successfully livestreamed several events, such as “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” “Love Is Blind: Brazil Season 3 The Live Reunion,” and “The Netflix Cup” without any issues. The upcoming livestream event on March 3, titled “The Netflix Slam,” is highly anticipated.
Unmissable Moments and Star-Studded Presenters
Idris Elba is set to open this year’s kudocast, which will also include Jennifer Aniston presenting Barbra Streisand with the 59th SAG Life Achievement Award. Presenters include Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt, who will be coming together on stage for a long-awaited “The Devil Wears Prada” reunion.
Other star-studded presenters slated for the evening include Erika Alexander, Danielle Brooks, Sterling K. Brown, Michael Cera, Jessica Chastain, Colman Domingo, Robert Downey Jr., Fran Drescher, Phil Dunster, Billie Eilish, America Ferrera, Brendan Fraser, Taraji P. Henson, Troy Kotsur, Greta Lee, Melissa McCarthy, Cillian Murphy, Glen Powell, Issa Rae, Storm Reid, Margot Robbie, Tracee Ellis Ross, Alexander Skarsgård, Omar Sy, Hannah Waddingham, Naomi Watts, and Jeffrey Wright.
Pre-Show Extravaganza: Tune In for Exclusive Insights
Before the award ceremony, don’t miss the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Official Pre-Show. This exciting prelude will be hosted by Tan France and Elaine Welteroth. It will be streamed on Netflix, as well as on Netflix’s TikTok and YouTube channels at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Saturday.
