The Emmys Leave Broadcast Television for Prime Video After Seven Decades

Television’s biggest night is leaving broadcast television. The Television Academy announced this week that Amazon’s Prime Video will be the exclusive home of the Primetime Emmy Awards for six years, beginning with the 79th ceremony in September 2027. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The move ends a run that dates to 1955, when NBC first carried the ceremony nationally. The show has aired on one of the four broadcast networks every year since, and for about three decades ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC have rotated the telecast under an arrangement known in the industry as the “Wheel Deal.” NBC broadcast the most recent ceremony in September.

The academy and Amazon both stressed that the show will stay free. “Now Prime Video audiences in more than 200 countries will be able to experience the Emmys live with no subscription required,” said Cris Abrego, chairman of the Television Academy. He also argued that a single long-term partner lets the academy build the show from year to year rather than starting over with a new network each time.

Amazon is betting it can reverse a long slide in viewership. Mike Hopkins, who heads Prime Video, said the company hopes to reach a younger audience by promoting Emmy nominees to its customers. The Emmys once drew more than 20 million viewers; recent ceremonies have drawn about 7 million. The 2025 show on CBS attracted 7.59 million viewers, and the September telecast drew 6.8 million across NBC, Peacock and other digital platforms, a decline of about 10%, NBC News reported.

The deal reflects how Americans now watch. In July, 49% of television viewing in the United States was on streaming services, compared with 19.5% on broadcast networks, according to Nielsen figures cited by NBC News.

Other awards shows are moving in the same direction. The Oscars are set to move to YouTube in 2029, when ABC’s current contract ends; ABC has carried the Academy Awards since the 1970s. Netflix began the trend in 2024 when it acquired the rights to the screen actors’ awards now known as the Actor Awards. Unlike the Oscars change, the Emmys deal takes effect almost immediately.

The academy said the ceremony will remain in September for now, though it is open to changing the date later. Amazon and the academy describe the partnership as a way to turn the Emmys into a year-round celebration of television rather than a single night.

Whether a streaming platform can restore some of the audience the broadcast networks lost is an open question. For the networks, the loss of one of their marquee nights is another reminder that the medium the Emmys were created to honor is no longer where most viewers are.