A first for internet TV: Netflix wins at the Emmys with House of Cards

A first for online television, streaming video site Netflix has walked away with an Emmy for David Fincher for his work on the popular show House of Cards. The show debuted on Netflix earlier this year after much anticipation and introduced audiences to Netflix’s model for television — binge TV.

The Sunday night extravagance that honours the top creative minds in television was a big night for Netflix and for online television, marking the first time such a platform has received so many nominations and then a win. The service, which describes itself as the “world’s leading internet television provider”, was nominated for 14 primetime Emmy awards this year. This also marked the first time that a web-only service had shows in the running for the Emmys.

House of Cards beat out veteran network shows such as Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, Downton Abbey and Homeland. The political drama was an instant success for the company after it managed to attract famed director David Fincher at its helm. With Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey headlining the cast and supported by Robin Wright, the show was a sure-fire win.

This not Netflix’s first Emmy though: the service has received creative arts Emmys for casting and another for cinematography, but this is the first time that it has received one for a red carpet event with television buzz.

This kind of buzz could definitely help grow the platform’s already large audience. Netflix currently boasts an audience of 36.3-million subscribers, 29.2-million of which are in the United States. The rest of the service’s audience is spread between Canada, South America, the Caribbean, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. That’s bigger than HBO’s reported 28.7-million subscribers.

With Emmys in the bag and Netflix determined to push more original content through its platform for its online-only audience it will be interesting to see what this spells for the current model of television.