Netflix winning over Emmy Awards voters, but faces fierce streaming fight

Alexandra Canal
·Senior Reporter
0
In this article:

Netflix’s (NFLX) stock nosedived on Friday on fears the streaming wars could batter its bottom line, but the company is well positioned among one particularly influential demographic: Hollywood.

The streaming giant is fending off stiff competition in its industry, but it’s also one of the most nominated platforms heading into this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards.

This year, Netflix came in with a 117 nominations — with its most-nominated content going to the drama miniseries, “When They See Us.”

To be sure, the company is bracing itself for what CEO Reed Hastings said was “tough competition” from Disney (DIS) and Apple (AAPL), in a published interview with Variety.

And Netflix is shelling out a lot of money to fight back. It plans to spend about $17.5 billion in purchasing and creating content for 2019 with both Apple TV+ and Disney+ gearing up for rapidly-approaching November launches.

And it’s not just Disney and Apple on Netflix’s heels. Recent multi-million dollar announcements point to a much more competitive landscape, as platforms scramble for quality content they can leverage to lure in paying customers.

Graphic by David Foster/Yahoo Finance
Graphic by David Foster/Yahoo Finance

During a very busy week, Netflix snagged the global streaming rights to ‘90s sitcom “Seinfeld” in a reported deal worth over $500 million. The so-called “show about nothing” represented a crucial win for the company after it lost both “Friends” and “The Office” to rival competitors.

Meanwhile, NBCUniversal (CMCSA) officially unveiled the name of its streaming service, Peacock, while also announcing “Saved by the Bell” and “Battlestar Galactica” revivals.

NBC’s chairman told Deadline in an interview published Thursday that resurrecting “The Office” is a big time “goal” as the platform looks to capitalize on fan favorites from the past.

And in possibly the most impressive money move of the week, HBO Max (T) landed a reported multi-billion dollar deal for “The Big Bang Theory”, according to sources from “The Hollywood Reporter.”

Alexandra Canal is a Producer at Yahoo Finance.

Read more:

Reserve your AMS ticket here
Advertisement