HBO and HBO Max as a united entity outperformed rival Netflix in this year’s overall Emmys standings, taking home a total of 38 awards across the Creative Arts and Primetime categories, including 12 today.
Only three awards were given to Netflix tonight out of a total of 26. The performances are almost a mirror image of 2021 when Netflix won 19 Emmys to HBO and HBO Max’s 44. See the table below for the wins by network and platform.
HBO/HBO Max significantly increased the 25-to-23 advantage it had going into today with several victories for the limited series The White Lotus and Succession, as well as significant pickups for shows like Euphoria, Hacks, and Last Week Tonight. In contrast, despite major victories for Squid Game and Ozark, Netflix was never able to maintain pace.
The success of the Korean-language Squid Game, which spoke to Netflix’s global reach and exceptional capacity for cross-pollination across borders, was an unexpected global smash. However, the company’s muted Emmy performance, which came months after it received just one Oscar win from a field-leading 27 nominations, is likely to prompt further discussion of its statuette troubles. Of course, 2022 has brought Netflix to a more significant corporate crossroads outside of the awards arena. Despite having almost 221 million customers worldwide, the firm has experienced its first subscriber losses in more than ten years, forcing it to reduce costs and lay off staff as executives finally recognize the impact of competition in the United States.
HBO and its more recent streaming sibling have recently been more inventive, but their road has not been without its share of hiccups. It has made headlines in 2022 by dropping a lot of films and series as new corporate parent Warner Bros Discovery wants to achieve $3 billion in cost savings from the purchase, as presenter Bowen Yang humorously alluded to during the ceremony.
With 92.1 million global members, HBO Max has outperformed company expectations, but it has also benefited from the launch’s free access for tens of millions of regular HBO subscribers. Due to distribution agreements with Sky that are expected to expire in 2025, several countries like the UK, Germany, and Italy are still off-limits. The future merger with Discovery+, which offers more casual unscripted programming, is likely to complicate streaming life. In addition, there is the DC conundrum, whose long-term leadership and strategy are still unknown. In that environment, HBO’s huge Emmy triumph was a welcome flashback to the days before Netflix, when the premium network assumed the mantle from competing broadcast and cable networks.
Overall, the Emmy race has become more cutthroat because of the streaming war, with Apple TV+ and Hulu putting their weight around it. Due in part to the timing of when seasons debuted on the latter platform, Netflix dominated HBO last year, winning 44 total accolades to 19 for the former. HBO Max debuted in May 2020, but due to Covid’s influence, it didn’t really take off until a year later.
The centerpiece show for Apple TV+ tonight, Ted Lasso’s crescendo of victories offers the tech titan even more bragging rights. Ted Lasso is a Television Academy favorite. Having a second winning in two tries for outstanding comedy series helps Apple make a declaration in the streaming battle, much to how its CODA wins upstaged Netflix at the Oscars. With victories for Dopesick by Michael Keaton and The Dropout by Amanda Seyfried, Hulu also made an impact. Although not the highest point of The Handmaid’s Tale winning the drama series award in 2017, the wins indicated that Hulu would still play a role. Additionally, once Disney completes the anticipated takeover of Comcast’s portion of the streaming venture in 2024, its competitive position and reach are certain to strengthen.
