Daytime Emmy Awards

Among the Daytime Emmy rules, a show must originally air on American television during the eligibility period between January 1 and December 31. Historically, in order to be considered a national daytime show, the program was required to air between 2 a.m. and 6 p.m., and to at least 50 percent of the country.^[17] Shows in syndication, whose air times vary between media markets, could either be entered in the Daytime or Primetime Emmys (provided they still reach the 50 percent national reach), but not in both.^[18] Game shows that reached the 50 percent threshold could be entered into the Daytime Emmys if they normally aired before 8 p.m.; otherwise, they were only eligible for the Primetime Emmys.^[17]


Web television shows must be available for downloading or streaming to more than 50 percent of the country, and like shows in syndication they can only enter in one of the national Emmy competitions. A show that enters into the Daytime Emmys cannot also be entered into the Primetime Emmy Awards or any other national Emmy competition. Entries must be submitted by late December. Most award categories also require entries to include DVDs or tape masters of the show. For example, most series categories require the submitted DVD to include any one or two episodes that originally aired during the eligibility period.^[17]


Voting is done by peer judging panels. Any active Academy member who has national credits for at least two years and within the last five years is eligible to be a judge. Depending on the category, voting is done using either a ratings score criteria or a preferential scoring system.^[17]


As of the 49th edition, eligibility for the Daytime Emmy Awards is now based on factors such as thematics and broadcasting frequency, with certain categories having been moved to other Emmy presentations. In particular:^[11][12]

Telecast[edit]

The show originally aired during the daytime hours (except for the 1983 and 1984 awards, which weren't televised) but moved to primetime in 1991. For many years, the show was produced by one of its own Lifetime Achievement honorees, Dick Clark. Each show from 2006 to 2008 was produced by White Cherry Entertainment.


NBC often aired special primetime episodes of its soaps (such as Another World: Summer Desire) as a lead-in to the ceremony. In 2002, 2005, and 2007, CBS aired special primetime editions of The Price Is Right as a lead-in (the first of which tying into its then-host Bob Barker being host of the ceremony, and the last being a primetime encore of his final episode as host, which aired earlier in the day).


In August 2009, The CW broadcast the Daytime Emmys for the first time, due to the other networks declining to carry it (at the time the network did have one daytime program, Judge Jeanine Pirro). The airing delivered the ceremony's lowest ratings ever (0.6/2 in 18–49, 2.72m),^[19] but it did outperform The CW's weak averages on the night that summer. The second time around, Associated Television International brought the 37th Daytime Emmy Awards to CBS, as well as the 38th, the following year. On May 3, 2012, it was announced and confirmed that HLN would air the 39th ceremony on June 23, 2012.^[20] In that ceremony, an additional non-Emmy award was awarded by the program's social media partner, AOL, for Best Viral Video Series. With 912,000 viewers (not counting four repeat broadcasts which brought the total to 2 million), the broadcast was "the most watched regularly scheduled, non-news telecast" ever on HLN, but by far the least-watched Daytime Emmy ceremony ever.^[21]


For the first time in the event's four-decade history, the 2014 Daytime Emmy ceremony was not broadcast on TV and instead aired only online,^[22] but the Daytime Awards telecast eventually returned to television the following year thanks to a two-year deal with basic cable channel Pop.^[23] However, for 2016, the academy announced that ceremony would not be televised for the second time, citing the "current climate for awards shows".^[24]


In 2020, the remotely-produced "virtual" ceremony for the 47th Daytime Emmy Awards aired on CBS, marking its return to both broadcast TV and CBS for the first time since 2011.^[10] On April 1, 2021, the NATAS subsequently announced a two-year deal with CBS, covering the 48th and 49th Daytime Emmy Awards.^[25]