The Emmy Awards are moving to Prime Video starting in 2027, under a six-year deal between Amazon and the Television Academy that ends a seven-decade run of broadcast networks airing the ceremony honoring the best in TV.

The agreement unveiled on Tuesday signifies a transition toward the streaming services that have come to overwhelmingly dominate the prestige categories at the Emmys.

The programme has been broadcast on one of the four major networks annually since 1955.

NBC was the first to televise it nationwide and was the last to host it this past month.

Over the past three decades, it has rotated on a yearly basis among ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in what was termed the “Wheel Deal.”

Securing a single, long-term home beginning with next September’s 79th Primetime Emmy Awards may be the most significant change.

“Continuity is a major part of what we’re looking for, because the rotating element essentially meant that, in many ways, we were starting over every year,” Cris Abrego, chairman of the Television Academy, said.

“With one partner over six years, we can really learn together and build from year to year together.”

The Emmys will continue to air free of charge, as they always have — a condition the Academy demanded from the outset from its suitors.

Watching them will not require a Prime Video subscription.

The move echoes the Oscars’ deal announced in December that sent them to YouTube and ended their own, equally long relationship with broadcast networks.

But unlike that agreement, announced in 2025 and starting in 2029, this one takes effect immediately.

“We’re on the clock, we’ve got to get rolling,” remarked Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.

In a more segmented culture, almost all awards shows have seen sharp drops in viewership, and the Emmys have consistently lagged behind the Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes even as acclaim for the shows they honor has grown.

At its peak, the show drew more than 20 million viewers.

The figure now hovers around 7 million.

Both the Academy and Amazon suggested that Prime Video could be poised to alter that dynamic, serving as a platform where a substantial portion of Emmys programming might be accessed, be it a Prime production or a streaming partnership.

The most celebrated victors at the past two Emmys, “Widow’s Bay” and “The Studio,” are both available to watch on Prime Video via its partnership with Apple TV.

"I believe we will be able to expand the viewership of this show over time, age it down, and in fact attract a younger audience, which I regard as a catalyst for growth," Hopkins said.

"We will have the opportunity throughout the year to promote Emmy nominees to our customers as a way of saying 'Hey, watch these shows, but also watch the Emmys.'"

Abrego stated that this approach, coupled with Prime Video's status as a television hub, constituted a significant factor in the decision to take the show there.

"They genuinely champion all television," he remarked.

"We seek reach, we seek access, and we perceived Amazon as being aligned with that."

And although Abrego acknowledged the significance of the shift to streaming and its ramifications, he contended that the content itself matters far more than the medium through which it is delivered.

"The Academy has never defined television by how it reaches your screen or even which screen it reaches," he said.

"The goal is to consistently want to recognize excellence wherever it comes from."

Live events on Amazon ceased to be a novelty long ago.

It has been nearly a decade since the company first aired an NFL game, and numerous other major sporting and miscellaneous events have since followed suit.

"We regard our service as a hybrid of live and on-demand, and we have made live a genuine priority," Hopkins said.

Football has consistently presented a challenge for the Emmys.

Its time slots on Sunday or Monday nights in September almost always result in a clash with the NFL, a ratings giant.

This year’s show was utterly eclipsed by the season’s inaugural Monday Night Football matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos on ESPN.

The ceremony is scheduled to remain in September of 2027; however, this does not necessarily signify that it is fixed for the duration of the agreement.

"We have had conversations with Amazon; if we wanted to change that date going forward, we could explore it and we would be open to it," Abrego said, acknowledging that it would have repercussions for deadlines and voting.