Daytime & Primetime Emmy Awards Competitions Realigned

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) and the Television Academy are realigning the Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be organized solely by content genre as opposed to the current method based on program airtime.

The motivation behind the move is to reflect consumers’ evolving viewing habits, reduce category overlap and provide clarity on eligibility requirements. It follows the Academies’ recent collaboration on expanding the Children’s & Family Emmy Awards into a standalone franchise.

Scripted dramas and comedies will enter the Television Academy’s national competition, irrespective of airtime, with two exceptions that will enter NATAS’s national competitions: programming intended for ages 15 and under will be represented in the Children’s & Family competition, and the Daytime Drama categories will remain in the Daytime competition and be redefined to include “any multi-camera, weekday daily serial, spin-off or reboot.”

Programming previously awarded in the Limited Drama categories of the Daytime competition will transition to the Primetime competition.

Talk shows will be awarded in each competition, separated by format and style characteristics reflective of current programming in daytime or late night.

The Morning Show and Spanish-Language Morning Show categories will be retired from the Daytime competition, with such programming eligible instead in the NATAS-administered News & Documentary Emmys or the Daytime competition’s Talk Show categories, depending on show format.

Game Show and Instructional & DIY programming categories will continue to be divided by airtime for the 2022 competitions. The Academies will look to a genre-based alignment for the 2023 competition year.

All other categories will be clarified so that content creators will submit to a single competition on the basis of submission genre, irrespective of airtime.