No one saw it coming, but the winner of the Emmys was the least-watched streaming service

The television landscape is constantly changing. A few years ago, Netflix was taking all the Emmys and positioning itself as the big new thing, one that brought with it nothing but quality productions. Yesterday, at the ceremony, it took home only 3 awards… and that’s 3 more than other streaming services like Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video, which went home exactly as they arrived. What nobody could have predicted was who would win this year.

Biting the apple

The clear winner, with 9 awards at the main ceremony (and 28 in total), was Apple TV, thanks especially to The Curse of Widow’s Bay, which took home 6 Emmys. Considering that last year it came in second with 7 wins (third in the overall count) and in 2024 barely won 2 awards, finishing behind FX, Netflix and HBO, it’s clear that this has been its year to shoot upward like a rocket.

This time, HBO Max, even with the smash hit of The Pitt and DTF St. Louis, finished in second place with 5 wins, and Netflix with 3. Quite a bit worse than either had expected. Meanwhile, only Peacock and CBS can go home proud with one award each: the rest, no matter their success or their number of subscribers, have come up empty-handed.

It’s curious, though, because Apple TV has more than 45 million subscribers (though exact figures aren’t available), but it’s still light-years behind its competitors. Success with critics, a shrug from viewers: Will this change as it keeps winning more and more awards with its shows?