The annual Emmy Awards was held for the 69^th time Sunday night. Hulu became the first ever purely digital actor to win the prestigious Outstanding Drama Series award for “The Handmaid’s Tale”. In total, Hulu won 10 awards out of 18 nominations, while Netflix and HBO won 20 and 29 awards respectively – racking up more than 200 nominations combined. Thus, it is evident that the streaming services are climbing ever closer to the upper echelons of Hollywood.

However, the streaming giants certainly wish to conquer more than just Hollywood. Both Netflix and HBO recently announced that they are drawing closer to start producing original series in the Nordics. Netflix’s first Nordic original is based on Malin Persson Giolito’s novel “Störst av allt” (called “Quicksand”). Scriptwriter is Camilla Ahlgren, who has previously worked on successful TV series “Bron”, with FLX set to produce the series. HBO’s new original series, “Gösta”, is written and to be directed by Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson. Memfis Film will produce the series, which starts shooting next year. In other words, Nordic local TV and film awards, such as Swedish “Kristallen”, might also be subject for competition from the global actors moving forward.

These announcements follow what has previously been communicated by company representatives. During Goldman Sach’s annual Communacopia Conference, Netflix CFO David Wells spoke of the growing consumer interest in content produced in other parts of the world. Furthermore, the chief content officer of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, mentioned in an interview with Variety that the company is looking to go from producing 17 local (i.e. non-American) series this year, to creating somewhere between 70 and 100 within the next couple of years.

For more information contact Torbjörn Axelsson, Analyst at Mediavision.