Apple’s Netflix Rival Wins its First Ever Oscar Award

Apple’s CODA has become the first film from a streaming platform to win the Academy Award for best picture, on Sunday. The streaming giant Netflix was also nominated in the category, for its film The Power of the Dog, and the two streaming services were claimed to be the frontrunners in the category going into Sunday’s awards ceremony.

The Apple TV Plus film portrays the struggles of Ruby Rossi played by Emilia Jones, who is the only hearing member of a deaf family, as she tries to explore life away from her family and the struggles she encounters along the way. Apple had acquired the rights to CODA for $25 million in a bidding war after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, last year.

Apple’s recent win is sure to give the streaming service a boost among prospective subscribers and increase its user base, as the competition among Apple TV Plus, Netflix, and their rivals grow fiercer than ever. Over the last few years, multiple companies have poured billions of dollars into launching new services in hopes of taking on the likes of Netflix, with an aim to redefine the future of television.

Streaming services have seen films nominated for Best Picture several times before, but up until now, none have managed to bag the top prize. Back in 2017, Amazon was the first to secure the Best Picture nomination for its film Manchester by the Sea, although it lost to the movie Moonlight.

Netflix has also been nominated several times for Best Picture, including Roma, The Irishman, Marriage Story, Mank, The Trial of the Chicago 7, as well as Don’t Look Up, and The Power of the Dog this year. Although it picked up the most nominations for this year’s Academy Awards, 27 in total, it could only win in the Best Director category for Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog.

Apple allegedly spent over $10 million on its Oscars campaign for CODA, which exceeds the movie’s entire production budget. CEO Tim Cook welcomed the news on Twitter, calling it a “profoundly beautiful movie” that “celebrates our differences.”