Amazon's TV boss explains which shows have no place in the new TV landscape
Since Netflix makes its shows available on-demand, and releases entire seasons at once, sitcoms where you can tune into any random episode lose some of their competitive advantage.
But broadly, Amazon Studios boss Roy Price says that mid-level shows aren't really useful anymore.
"The real competition is not to be broadly accepted, but to be truly exceptional," Price said on a recent Wall Street Journal Media Mix podcast. "You need a show that people are going to demand. There is, for instance, no show at 8:30 that you can put in between your 8 o'clock hit and your 9 o'clock hit."
You don't need a "pretty good" show that can retain audience. "So those mid-level shows lose value, and it's really about the competition for the top shows that get the most attention."
That makes things like the Emmys very important to Amazon and Netflix.
"[The Emmys] are the only thing that seems to resonate with the general population [to signal quality]," FX CEO John Landgraf told Bloomberg recently. It's how people know which shows are must-see TV, one reason networks spent a whopping $60 to $80 million just to promote their Emmy nominations.
So how are streaming services stacking up? At the 2016 Emmys, Amazon snagged two primetime Emmys, barely behind Netflix, which got three. The top networks were HBO and FX, both with six.
Here were the complete list of Emmy winners by network:
