Emmys Move to Prime Video Sparks Debate Over the Growing Competition Between Television and Streaming Platforms
The announcement that the Emmy Awards ceremony will move to Prime Video has sparked debate over intensifying competition between television and streaming platforms. Some researchers have described the move as evidence of “television’s continued loss of dominance,” while emphasizing that “there is still an opportunity to reclaim its role by capitalizing on the advantage of free-to-air broadcasting.”
The Emmy Awards recently announced that its annual ceremony will begin streaming on Prime Video in 2027, under a six-year agreement between Amazon and the Television Academy. The announcement marks the end of a seven-decade tradition in which broadcast television networks aired the ceremony honoring the best in television each year.
“Continuity is a big part of what we’re looking for. With one partner over six years, we can really learn together and build together from year to year,” Television Academy President Chris Abrego said, according to The Associated Press.
Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told The Associated Press: “We’re racing against the clock, and we need to get to work.”
Since 1955, the Emmy Awards ceremony has been broadcast annually, rotating among four major television networks. NBC was the first network to broadcast the ceremony nationwide and was also the most recent broadcaster, having aired it last month. Over the past three decades, broadcasting rights have rotated annually among ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC under an arrangement known as the “wheel deal.”
Television’s Declining Dominance
Mai Abdel Ghani, a digital media researcher and professor of media at the University of Benghazi in Libya, believes that “the move of the Emmy Awards broadcast to Prime Video represents a significant structural shift with symbolic implications, redefining the nature of the television medium by transferring the celebration of the industry to the digital environment that now serves as its home.”
In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, she said the move would give the event a global reach through simultaneous free access in more than 240 countries and territories. This, she explained, could help address the demographic erosion of linear television audiences by attracting younger digital generations.
The shift also challenges the traditional concept of a shared media event and the collective ritual of watching the same broadcast at the same time, replacing it with fragmented, individualized consumption. At the same time, it reinforces the dominance of technology giants over major live events and the advertising economy of connected television.
Abdel Ghani argues that traditional television has lost its historical dominance in prestige drama and high-budget entertainment to digital platforms, which have attracted substantial production budgets and major awards. As a result, conventional television screens have increasingly become venues for reruns and lower-cost programming.
She notes that this shift has coincided with a sharp decline in the traditional television audience, falling subscriptions, and the phenomenon known as “cord-cutting,” as younger generations have moved almost entirely toward digital streaming. Consequently, television has lost a substantial share of daily screen time and much of its position as the sole home of mass culture.
However, Abdel Ghani believes television can survive by capitalizing on its structural advantages in broadcasting live sporting events and providing immediate news coverage without the risk of internet network congestion. Its deep-rooted role in delivering public-service and local programming also remains an advantage that global streaming platforms cannot easily replicate.
She further points to a functional resurgence of television through free, ad-supported channels, which can help address “choice fatigue” as digital platforms grapple with “subscription fatigue” and market saturation.
Streaming services themselves, she adds, have begun borrowing traditional television mechanisms, including advertising and scheduled programming. This demonstrates that television can continue to serve as an adaptive, complementary medium within a hybrid media landscape.
How Can Television Compete?
Against the backdrop of intensifying competition between streaming platforms and television, Abdel Ghani proposes that broadcasters rethink their business models around several key pillars.
These include securing a strong operational and technical advantage in the simultaneous, real-time broadcasting of sporting events and breaking news without network congestion; replicating the linear television experience digitally through free, ad-supported streaming channels; and becoming digital aggregators offering unified packages that combine competing platforms and internet services to address fragmented bills and subscription fatigue.
She also recommends strengthening television’s organic ties to local communities through public-service programming and emergency coverage that globalized algorithms cannot replace. Finally, broadcasters should adopt hybrid models combining streaming platforms with intelligent scheduling and weekly releases to maintain audience engagement and sustain advertising revenues.
The Emmy Awards’ move follows an announcement by the Academy Awards in December last year that the Oscars ceremony would move to YouTube beginning in 2029.
A Real Threat to Major Media Organizations
Khaled Al-Qudah, a member of the Jordanian Press Association’s board, says recent developments “pose a genuine threat to major media organizations, particularly major television networks, because they are no longer the sole gatekeepers of broadcasting.”
In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, he explained that the internet has enabled media organizations themselves to establish and finance their own platforms and communicate directly with audiences, without intermediaries, editorial oversight, the conditions imposed by editors-in-chief, or the broadcasting policies of traditional institutions.
He stresses that media organizations must “give up the crown they have placed upon their heads, engage with people’s concerns, and broadcast content and ideas capable of connecting with audiences and answering their questions.”
Nevertheless, he believes major media organizations and international television networks still have an opportunity to remain relevant, provided they reinvent themselves to meet audience expectations and take advantage of the features and capabilities introduced by digital platforms.
“Television remains a refuge for millions,” he says, noting that internet access may be readily available in some countries but expensive in others. Long streaming sessions can also consume substantial amounts of mobile or broadband data, placing an additional financial burden on viewers.
He considers free broadcasting an opportunity for television networks, although the challenges remain significant as competition with streaming platforms intensifies.
Falling Viewership Across Awards Shows
Almost all major awards ceremonies have experienced sharp declines in viewership. The Emmys have consistently lagged behind the Oscars, Grammys, and Golden Globes, even as critical acclaim for the shows they honor has grown.
At their peak, the Emmy Awards attracted more than 20 million viewers. Their audience has since settled at around seven million, according to observers.
Mohamed Fathy, a researcher specializing in digital media, says the decision to move the Emmy Awards broadcast to a digital platform after decades on television opens up an important discussion about the future of media. However, he argues, it does not necessarily signal the end of television. Rather, it reflects changes in how audiences access content and in the nature of competition for broadcasting rights, advertising revenue, and viewers.
In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, Fathy said the shift is “not merely a change in the broadcasting channel, but an indication that digital platforms have become capable of hosting events that were historically associated with traditional television.”
He emphasizes the need to distinguish between moving a single ceremony—or even a group of events—to a digital platform and the disappearance of television as a medium. Each, he notes, operates under a different model for reaching audiences and generating revenue.
The issue, he argues, is not television’s disappearance but its loss of a monopoly over access to audiences and major events. Television still has important strengths, including broad reach, local news, field reporting, and the ability to reach audiences who do not necessarily rely on the internet or digital subscriptions.
“Television may lose some of its audience and revenue, but that does not mean its decline is inevitable or that streaming platforms will capture every form of viewing,” he says.
Fathy adds that the solution is not to try to defeat streaming platforms using outdated television methods, but to redefine television’s role and develop its business model.
This requires investing in content that is difficult to replace, including reliable news, investigative journalism, on-the-ground reporting, and analytical programming. It also means transforming broadcasters into multiplatform media organizations, understanding audience behavior, and diversifying revenue streams beyond the traditional television advertising model.
Most read
Read also
