Amazon has become the latest web video giant to be awarded an Emmy this year. For its work in video recommendation engines, Amazon Instant Video is set to be honored by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It’s Amazon’s first Emmy — but it’s also the very same award that was given to YouTube just yesterday. To explain the honor, Amazon is pointing toward its Video Finder feature. Video Finder was released earlier this year as a way for users to quickly find something to watch by browsing through different genres, themes, and moods — though it really isn’t much more than a curated list.
Everyone’s a winner: Amazon receives same Emmy as YouTube
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
The Emmys’ strong attention to digital mediums this year suggests that the award show is eager to stay edgy. It’s also given a number of nods to Netflix — though those are only nominations for now. The big difference in Netflix’s case is that it’s being honored for actual video content, and not simply for the service’s robust recommendation algorithms. Nominating Netflix shouldn’t have been a hard move either: House of Cards was widely well received, and Arrested Development returned with much of its old charm. Netflix may have been snubbed on the recommendation engine front, but it’s the one up for the awards that matter most.
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