• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 22, 2021

It recorded 10 Primetime Emmy awards, and another 34 Creative Emmy Awards (hardware for artistic/technical tasks). That’s a total of 44, which Netflix will tell you ties the all-time record for Emmysset by CBS in 1974.

Unless you have been living under a rock -- or a rock where there are no streaming set-top boxes near a TV -- Netflix continues to soar in the award arena, surpassing longtime Emmy leader HBO.

Now Netflix, according to many, is on the same level of panache as HBO/HBO Max.

HBO/HBO Max still scores well. HBO/HBO Max actually had more nominations than Netflix -- 130 to 129. For the Primetime Emmys, HBO pulled in nine trophies for “Mare of Eastown,” “Hacks,”  “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and other original TV shows — 19 overall.

This year, Apple TV+ grabbed the top honors for outstanding comedy, for “Ted Lasso.” All this follows Amazon Prime Video and Hulu getting notoriety and awards in the past.

But do awards draw subscribers? Surveys say consumers like a streamer with a large library of TV and movies to watch. But also lots of original new stuff.

During the heyday of its growth years, HBO made gains with cable TV subscribers. But more as a niche service. Not all its racy, independent, out-of-the box content drew a a broad audience, as broadcasting does.

Now, things are different. These days, there is lots of fractionalized consumption, due to an explosion of content and a rise of platforms. Niche entertainment is the norm.

The downside is that streamers need new and revolving original content to keep consumers coming back -- and if possible, some awards tacked on for promotion.

That’s the field where Netflix -- and others -- now play. At the same time, there is lots of slippage. Netflix, for one, quickly cuts shows that can’t find an audience, even with all the promotion it supplies.

If that’s the current business model, is it a model for everyone to pursue?