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Not even a global pandemic could stop the 2020 Emmy Awards, which happened last night, for some reason. Though the show itself looked different—with celebrities making acceptance speeches via video calls from the safety of their own homes—one thing stayed very much the same this year: HBO came out on top.
Even without Game of Thrones, the 58-time Emmy winner that went off the air last year, HBO was the big winner of the night. The premium network took home a grand total of 30 Emmy Awards, and 11 telecast Emmys, which was more than any other streaming service or network. Watchmen took home the most wins for the network with 11 awards, followed by Succession with 7, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver with 4, and Euphoria with 3. (You can find the full list of Emmy 2020 winners here.)
Netflix didn’t fare quite as well as it has in years past, though still came in second, taking home two Telecast Emmys, and 21 total Emmys, continuing its downward trend over the last two years. (The streamer won 4 Telecast Emmys and 27 total Emmys last year, and 7 Telecast Emmys and 23 total Emmys in 2018.)
The Viacom-owned Pop TV, thanks solely to a complete sweep of the comedy categories by Schitt’s Creek, came in third with a total of 10 awards. Newcomer Disney+ snuck into fourth place, thanks to its seven Creative Arts Emmy wins for The Mandalorian.
Amazon Prime slipped way down on the list without its big winner from last year, Fleabag, though still manage to win four Creative Arts Emmys for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Hulu came in last place among the streamers, with just one Creative Arts Emmy for The Handmaid’s Tale. (Even Quibi won two Emmys for #FreeRayshawn.) And Apple TV scored its first major win with The Morning Show‘s Billy Crudup.
Here’s how the night played out for the major streaming services in the telecast awards:
- HBO: 11 Telecast Emmys
- Netflix: 2 Telecast Emmys
- Apple TV+: 1 Telecast Emmy
And here’s how that line-up plays out, alongside the more traditional networks, when you add in the Creative Arts Emmys—the class of Emmy Awards that honor technical achievements such as production design, costume design, sound editing, and more, which were awarded earlier this month:
- HBO: 30 Total Emmys
- Netflix: 21 Total Emmys
- PopTV: 10 Total Emmys
- Disney+: 8 Total Emmys
- NBC: 8 Total Emmys
- VH1: 6 Total Emmys
- ABC: 5 Total Emmys
- National Geographic: 5 Total Emmys
- Adult Swim: 4 Total Emmys
- Prime Video: 4 Total Emmys
If you break it down by show, Watchmen was the big overall winner, followed by Schitt’s Creek and Succession.
- Watchmen (HBO): 11 Total Emmys
- Schitt’s Creek (PopTV): 9 Total Emmys
- Succession (HBO): 7 Total Emmys
- The Mandalorian (Disney+): 7 Total Emmys
- RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1): 6 Total Emmys
- Saturday Night Live (NBC): 6 Total Emmys
So even though it was an Emmys like we’ve never seen before, the winners were, essentially, what we’ve seen before: HBO dominating, and Netflix coming in second—though, notably, lagging a little further behind than it had in previous years. But Disney+, considering it’s only had one big flagship original series since launching, made an impressive showing with its eight awards. And you can’t deny that 2020 saw more streaming services competing at the Emmys than ever before. It’s sure to only increase next year—if the world still exists by then, of course.
