As of now, no streaming services have ever won a major Emmy award within its first year. But tonight history might be created. Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus are ready for a faceoff as the Emmy 2020 takes place tonight. And the stakes seem to be higher for Apple TV Plus than for Disney Plus.
Streaming services have been dominating the Emmys for a few years now but none of them achieved it in their first year. November 2019 saw the launch of both Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus. Both have primetime nominations for this year’s Emmy for their origincal content in major categories. And trends say both will win some.
With even a single Emmy in their bags, these new streaming services will receive a boost. They are already struggling for attention as competitors are giving a good fight. What has come to be known as the “streaming war” has launched many new services along with Apple and Disney. HBO Max is a heavyweight as is Peacock, along with the older names of Amazon Prime and Netflix.
What if neither Apple TV Plus nor Disney Plus wins anything?
In case neither Apple TV Plus nor Disney Plus manages to secure a statue tonight, Disney won’t have any qualms about it. They would focus on other concerns. But for Apple, it would come as a tough punch. They are known to put in billions of dollars for the prestige TV content strategy to keep things high-end. If that does not fetch them awards even after major nominations, things might become difficult.
Streaming services started dominating the Emmys from 2013 with the entry of Netflix. Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale won the sought-after best-drama award in 2017, breaking all barriers. The next year, breaking a 17-year-long streak of HBO, Netflix bagged the most number of nominations. Emmy 2020 has again loved Netflix and it now has a whopping 160 nominations this year. Another blow for HBO.
Coming back to the Apple TV Plus vs Disney Plus topic, both seem to be equals in nominations. While the former bagged 18 nominations, the later managed 19. The biggest surprise was Disney’s The Mandalorian managing the nomination for the prestigious best-drama. Reportedly, Disney did not make any lobbying efforts to get this one a place.
On the other hand. Apple TV makes big-budget content directed at the awards. The Morning Show from Apple got nominations in acting for Steve Carell, Jennifer Aniston, Mark Duplass, and Billy Crudup. For its 20 episodes, Apple spent around $200 million!
Over the last few days, the awards from The Creative Arts Emmys have been distributed. Mandalorian already has 7 awards in its bag which were for cinematography, special visual effects, sound mixing, sound editing, music composition, production design, and stunt coordination. The eight award for Disney was for the Toy Story 4 spin-off ‘Forky Asks a Question’.
