The Emmys Are Heading to Prime Video Starting in 2027

Amazon is paying more than $20 million a year for the rights, according to Deadline. That's well over double what the Academy was getting before, when ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC were believed to be paying a little over $8 million annually to share the show.

The ceremony will be available free in more than 240 countries and territories, the Academy said in its official announcement. Academy chair Cris Abrego said the shift reflects how international TV has become, adding that "the Emmys should be a celebration that the world can share."

For decades, the Emmys were a fixture of network TV. The show has aired on one of the big four broadcasters every year since 1955, and for roughly the past 30 years it rotated among them under an arrangement known as the "Wheel Deal." NBC aired the final one on September 14, with Peacock streaming it alongside.

According to the Associated Press, the Academy made free access a requirement from the very first conversations with potential partners. Abrego told the AP the organization wanted reach and access above all, and felt Amazon shared those priorities.

Audience numbers made a change hard to avoid. The Emmys once pulled in more than 20 million viewers, but the broadcast now averages around 7 million. Football hasn't helped. This year's ceremony went up against the season's first Monday Night Football game, a Chiefs-Broncos matchup on ESPN, and lost badly.

Streaming services have also taken over the prestige categories, leaving the networks that aired the show with fewer and fewer wins of their own. Amazon and the Academy see Prime Video as a natural place to watch many of the shows being honored, whether they're Amazon originals or titles available through partnerships. The top winners of the last two ceremonies, "Widow's Bay" and "The Studio," are both available on Prime Video through its partnership with Apple TV.

That setup lets Amazon promote nominees to its customers throughout the year rather than for a single night in September. The Academy said Prime Video will create new ways for fans to discover and engage with television year-round, while the live ceremony will keep its usual September slot.

Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told the AP the company is already moving quickly, saying, "We're on the clock, we gotta get rolling."

Amazon has plenty of live event experience to draw on. Prime Video has streamed the Academy of Country Music Awards since 2022 and has steadily added major sports rights to its lineup.

The Emmys are also following a path other major awards shows have already taken. The Oscars will leave ABC for YouTube beginning in 2029, and the SAG Awards, now called The Actor Awards, have moved to Netflix. With TV's own top honor joining them, broadcast networks are losing their hold on the awards shows they carried for generations.

For more articles like this, visit our Lifestyle News Page!