Which streaming service won the 2025 Emmy nominations?
Which streaming service won the 2025 Emmy nominations?
Streaming services were very well represented at the 2025 Emmy Award nominations. But did any streamer “win” the nominations?
It’s hard to believe that award season is coming up in the TV world, but it’s true. The 2025 Emmy nominations were released on Tuesday, and as is always the case these days, streaming services got an abundance of nods this year. But can any streamer claim that it won the nominations? What does winning the nomination process even mean?
Key Details:
- Nominated to the Max: HBO Max led all streamers with 142 Emmy nods.
- True streaming nominations: Netflix had 120 nominations, with no shows appearing on linear TV.
- Big bite of the Apple: Apple TV+ has a strong case for the title of Emmy nomination winner.
Perhaps nominations really are just a numbers game? If so, HBO Max is the clear winner. The platform accrued 142 nominations between titles that were Max originals and HBO originals, with 20 different titles receiving Emmy nods. It’s worth pointing out, however, that HBO Originals are technically linear titles, even though HBO titles are available on HBO Max at the same time as their linear debut.
Netflix, on the other hand, is able to claim that all 120 of its nominations were for streaming-original programs. Does it deserve greater consideration than other studios as a result? We’ll explore that question a bit more below, but first, it’s take a look at how many nominations each streamer received.
| Streamer | Total nominations | Titles nominated |
|---|---|---|
| HBO Max | 142 | 20 |
| Netflix | 120 | 44 |
| Apple TV+ | 81 | 14 |
| Hulu | 58 | 18 |
| Disney+ | 28 | 8 |
| Peacock | 19 | 7 |
| Prime Video | 12 | 8 |
| Paramount+ | 7 | 6 |
| Roku | 3 | 1 |
There’s an interesting argument to be made that The Roku Channel is the winner of the 2025 Emmy nominations, despite garnering just three nods for “Die Hart: Hart to Kill.” I think it’s reasonably impressive for The Roku Channel to have received any nominations at all, considering the kind of competition it’s up against. Roku almost certainly doesn’t have anywhere near the content budget of the paid streaming services that it’s competing with, so it should feel quite proud to have an Emmy-nominated series this year.
There are better candidates for a winner of the 2025 Emmy nominations, however. I think there are three real possibilities: Apple TV+, HBO Max, and Netflix. We’ll start with the leader when it comes to the most nominations in HBO Max, which gets to continue boasting about its premium reputation thanks to the volume of awards nominations.
Netflix was just behind HBO Max in the nomination tally, and it had more than double the number of original shows that received the honor. That gives it a better case in my mind, as it can demonstrate high quality across a wider range of content types, showing a greater degree of versatility.
With all of that in mind, however, I think it was Apple TV+ that won this year’s Emmy nominations. Eighty-one nods is a record for the platform, and Apple’s nominations are spread across 14 different programs. The content fire hose that Netflix brings to the table is much more powerful than the garden hose at Apple, so I find that volume of nominations pretty impressive when compared to the relatively small number of releases the streamer puts out each year.
Apple can also claim the most-nominated show of the year with “Severance.” The streamer kept viewers waiting for three years for the second season of the thriller, and the extra time spent on it led to 27 total nominations for the series, which is an undoubted point in Apple TV+’s favor.
“Shrinking,” “The Studio,” and “Slow Horses” all received top program nominations in their respective categories, showing that Apple TV+ garnered high-quality nominations as well as a high volume of noms. All of this adds up to a streamer punching above its weight class, in my mind.
Best of all, from Apple’s perspective, an impressive nomination season could lead to higher viewership. Apple TV+ has always been a streamer that has struggled to pull in new subscribers thanks to its smaller catalog relative to other platforms, but a healthy presence at the 2025 Emmys could convince reluctant consumers to finally give the streamer a try.
For these are the reasons, I would declare Apple TV+ the winner of the 2025 Emmy nomination cycle. Will it do as well when the awards ceremony itself rolls around in September? Only time will tell, but acquiring as many honors as it did this year is a big step for a streamer that has leaned on its premium reputation as long and as hard as Apple TV+ has.
The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on Sunday, Sept. 17, and will be hosted by comedian Nate Bargatze.
Apple TV
Apple TV (formerly known as Apple TV+) is a subscription video streaming service for $14.99 per month, offering a growing slate of original series, films, documentaries, and specials. Unlike other platforms that combine licensed titles with originals, Apple TV is built entirely around exclusive programming, making it the home of critically acclaimed hits such as “Ted Lasso,” “Severance,” “The Morning Show,” and “Silo.” Its lineup continues to expand with award-winning dramas, comedies, family-friendly shows, and blockbuster original films like “CODA,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.