The Emmys have chosen a prime location for the next six years of the TV awards show.
The Television Academy announced Oct. 7 that the Primetime Emmy Awards − which honor the best and brightest in broadcast, cable and streaming television − will be moving to Amazon Prime Videofor the next six years, starting with the 2027 ceremony.
"In a groundbreaking six-year agreement, television’s highest honor moves to Prime Video, bringing a bold new vision for celebrating the art, the stories and the talent that define the best of TV," the Academy wrote in a news release. "Prime Video offers a single, dedicated viewing destination free to audiences in more than 240 countries and territories."
It's a huge move for the awards show, which has for its long history
rotated between the major broadcast networks − NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox − sharing the ratings and prestige boon associated with a major awards show between what used to be the biggest destinations in TV. The 2026 Emmys, hosted by Mariska Hargitay, aired on Sept. 14 on NBC, and streamed on that network's associated service, Peacock.
The Academy says the move allows the Emmys to "adapt to a changing media landscape, embracing the future of how audiences consume great television."
"Television has never been more global, and the Emmys should be a celebration that the world can share,” Cris Abrego, chair of the Television Academy, said in the release. "Amazon shares our deep respect for the history of the Emmys and brings the investment, innovation and scale to help us shape their next chapter."
The move is not unprecedented. The TV Academy's film counterpart announced in December 2025 that the broadcast would move from its longtime home on ABC to YouTube in 2029, for a contract that will last through at least 2033. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences cited its desire for global, free access to be the motivation behind the move.
"YouTube will help make the Oscars accessible to the Academy's growing global audience through features such as closed captioning and audio tracks available in multiple languages," the Academy said at the time.
In addition to the Oscars' and Emmys' big moves, Netflix began airing the Actor Awards (formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards) in 2024.
Ratings have been on a downward trend for award shows on broadcast TV for some time, part of a general decline as streaming and other entertainments have shifted viewer habits. However, there have been trends both up and down, especially in the post-pandemic era.
The 2026 Emmys garneredonly 6.8 million viewers on NBC, Peacock and other digital platforms. That's compared with 7.59 million for the 2025 Emmys on CBS and 6.9 million on ABC in 2024. But in 2022, the last time the Emmys were on NBC, only 5.92 million viewers tuned in.
Likewise, ratings for the Oscars have been on a general decline, but were actually up in 2026. That ceremony marked a five-year high in ratings, with 19.7 million viewers, after cratering during the pandemic.
However, these numbers pale in comparison to the heydays of both awards shows. In 2014, 43 million viewers watched the Oscars and the Emmys had 15.6 million tuning in. In 1998, when "Titanic" swept through the Oscars as a cultural phenomenon, 55.25 million people watched James Cameron declare himself king of the world.
The Emmys decision to move their telecast from the world of network TV to the world of streaming mirrors its voters preferences for where they watch their own TV. In the 2026 ceremony, the top honors were given to Apple TV's "Widow's Bay" and HBO Max's "The Pitt." The highest-profile award won by a network series was outstanding variety series, won by CBS's "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." That talk series was canceled in 2026 by CBS, citing declining ratings and rising costs.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Emmys make huge move from broadcast TV to Prime Video ahead of 2027 awards show
