Emmys move to Prime Video in 2027 for six-year deal

Amazon announced on 6 October 2026 that Prime Video will become the new home of the Emmy Awards, moving the ceremony from broadcast television to streaming beginning in 2027. The deal with the Television Academy runs for six years and will stream the show free worldwide in more than 240 countries and territories, including to viewers who do not subscribe to Amazon Prime.techcrunch.com+1

The move ends seven decades in which the ceremony rotated among broadcasters ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, and marks the first time the Emmys have had a dedicated home. Television Academy chair Cris Abrego said the shift lets the show reach a global audience without a subscription, framing the change as an expansion of the awards' reach rather than a break from its history.

A dedicated home after seven decades

Prime Video will stream the ceremony live in more than 240 countries and territories, and non-Amazon Prime subscribers will be able to watch on the platform without paying. Abrego said audiences in more than 200 countries will experience the Emmys live with no subscription required, and he called the previous broadcast partners "tremendous stewards of the Emmys for many years."1057thepoint.com

The move arrives as the ceremony's television audience has been shrinking. Ratings for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards on NBC were down nearly 10% from the year prior, after two years of growth. The telecast still drew 6.87 million viewers, above its all-time low of 4.3 million in January 2024.

Ratings fell before the move

The terms of the deal were not disclosed by Amazon. Trade press reports put the annual cost between $20 million and $25 million per year for the right to stream the main ceremony, according to Deadline, as reported by Engadget. Amazon has not confirmed a figure publicly, and the gap between the reported range and any official number remains unexplained.

Beyond the main ceremony, Prime Video may carry other Television Academy programming, such as the Hall of Fame ceremony. Where viewers will watch the Creative Arts Emmys going forward is not yet clear, as noted by Engadget. That uncertainty leaves a second, larger category of awards without a confirmed streaming home under the new arrangement.

Reported annual rights payment

The Emmys will be the first major entertainment award ceremony broadcast exclusively on a streaming service. The shift follows a wider pattern: Netflix has streamed the Screen Actors Guild Awards since 2024, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a deal giving YouTube the rights to stream the Oscars beginning in 2029.

Streaming's hold on the awards themselves has also grown. The best drama and comedy series winners at this year's ceremony, The Pitt and Widow's Bay, are both streaming exclusives, according to Engadget. The change in where the show is broadcast therefore mirrors a shift already visible in which programmes the awards recognise.

Other awards shows shifting too

Cris Abrego said the Television Academy weighed the broadcast partners' long record before deciding. He said having a dedicated home on Prime Video allows the Emmys to "build on that legacy," and that television has never been more global, so the awards should be a celebration the world can share.

The six-year deal begins in 2027 and covers worldwide streaming rights. No start date beyond the year 2027 has been announced for the first Prime Video broadcast, and the Creative Arts Emmys' destination remains unresolved. The next scheduled milestone is the Oscars' move to YouTube in 2029, which will follow the Emmys onto streaming by two years.