For the first time, one of this year’s Gold Logie nominations is being celebrated for her body of work on a streaming platform.

Unlike the Seven Network veteran Larry Emdur, Ten’s jungle newcomer Robert Irwin and co-host Julia Morris, Nine’s nice guy Andy Lee and the ABC’s favourite Tony Armstrong, Australian actor Asher Keddie, 49, is on the list for a TV drama series made on Binge.

Premiering last year on the Foxtel-owned streaming subscription service [which costs $19 a month], Keddie played a magazine publisher in the eight-part original series, Strife.

It immediately broke records on the streamer, so much so that Foxtel announced it had pipped Colin From Accounts to become its most successful launch for first-day and first-week viewing.

Now in its 64th year and billed as “television’s night of nights”, the Logie Awards recognises the biggest shows and stars on free-to-air television, sponsored and organised by the magazine TV Week.

This year marks the first time streaming platforms have made significant inroads on the list of nominees, not only in the most popular but also in the new “best” categories.

Queensland University of Technology’s Professor Amanda Lotz and her research team last month released the findings of a four-year report into the state of Australian television.

They found Australian television drama was on the ropes, plummeting (in hours produced) by 55 per cent since the early 2000s, with the diminished drama offerings from commercial broadcasters most accountable for the decline.

“The report is indicative of why you are seeing what you’re seeing in the [Logie] nominations – which is that the commercial broadcasters have paid for very little, if not no, Australian drama content in the recent year,” Lotz told The New Daily.

“Whether or not awards should be given to streamers, I don’t see a problem with that – it’s just a new distribution technology. But maybe you don’t want to be awarding them to services that are not based in Australia. That is another question.

“Given the commercial broadcasters aren’t making the amount of content they used to make, it’s not surprising there is nothing to nominate from.

“In the case of the drama category, if there are very few possible titles to watch, then there’s very few titles that can receive an award.

“The commercial broadcasters are still doing reality and sports, so that’s represented in other categories … but the drama production has become minimal.”

Basically, Lotz says the streamers are making inroads because the commercial broadcasters aren’t making content.

A trend in years to come?

“I can’t predict the commissioning behaviour of the commercial broadcasters … I would say the trend we have does suggest further decline.”

Felix Cameron’s heart-wrenching performance as Eli Bell in Boy Swallows Universe has earned a Silver Logie nomination for best lead actor in a drama

Netflix, Prime Video, Stan, Binge, Disney+ and Paramount+ make up 25 per cent of this year’s nominees, dominating the drama and comedy nominees.

They also accounted for half of the documentary nominations.

Lotz said there was “growing federal support for productions commissioned by multi-territory streamers like Netflix for global audiences”.

“These dramas may be set here but rarely engage with Australian social and cultural themes in any meaningful way.

“Such services are focussed on maintaining international subscriptions and are not concerned with returning value to Australians in exchange for the funds and tax offsets they receive.”

When Netflix’s Boy Swallows Universe dropped, transporting viewers back to the language and sets of 1980s suburban Brisbane – not to mention production input from author Trent Dalton – it became a massive hit with audiences worldwide, ranking as the fifth most popular show on the streaming service globally.

The series has received 10 Logie nominations, including best miniseries and best actor for Felix Cameron, to become this year’s most recognised drama.

Prime Video’s The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and Deadloch each received four and three nominations, respectively, while Stan scored seven nominations across six different shows including Scrublands and The Tourist.

Sonia Kruger, Tony Armstrong, Andy Lee, Robert Irwin, Larry Emdur and Julia Morris on June 23 in Sydney. Photo: Getty

Meanwhile, ABC is the big winner for free-to-air TV, clocking up a record 51 nominations across all categories except three.

The national broadcaster’s ​chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, said the recognition “reflects the strength and diversity of the ABC’s slate, which continues to be unrivalled in its scale”.

“We look forward to a very successful Logies night.”

Seven scored 18 nominations, with Logies favourite Home and Away only being recognised in the Most Popular New Talent category.

Nine received 15 and Ten bagged eight nominations, mostly in the reality TV categories including shows like I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, MasterChef Australia and Australian Survivor: Titans v Rebels.

The revamped format of the Logies, which will be hosted by Sam Pang from 7pm on Sunday, August 18, will feature only three Popular categories with all remaining categories retitled as Best.