YouTube creators get shut out at the Emmys

According to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, it’s time for the Television Academy to award an Emmy to a digital-native creator. Mohan may be right, but that recognition won’t happen this year. The YouTube-based shows that submitted for the Emmys — including Amelia Dimoldenberg‘s Chicken Shop Date, Sean Evans‘ Hot Ones, and Rhett & Link‘s Good Mythical Morning — all failed to score nominations.

Hot Ones was submitted in the Outstanding Talk Series category, while Chicken Shop Date and Good Mythical Morning vied for consideration in the Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series category. The former of those categories is filled with late-night favorites like The Daily Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live, and the short-form nominees include The Eric Andre Show and AppleTV+’s Carpool Karaoke series.

Chris Schonberger, the General Manager of Hot Ones distributor First We Feast, took the snub in stride. “The only problem I have with the nominees is that Jon Stewart hasn’t faced the wings of death yet,” he said in an email to NBC News. “It’s time, Jon! Otherwise, nothing but respect. We’ll be back next year!”

Though individual creators struggled to gain traction at the Emmys, there’s still plenty of room among the nominees for programs distributed by streaming services. Netflix 

got the most nominations of any distributor, scoring 107 nods for the 2024 ceremony.

But even as the TV Academy recognizes the streaming industry, it is making the same old mistakes when it comes to platforms like YouTube. The short-form category is filled with digital companions to series like Late Night with Seth Meyers and Only Murders in the Building. I’m left asking the same question I posed seven years ago: Why do these ho-hum TV offshoots get consideration from the Academy while the most impressive pieces of independent digital content receive a cold shoulder?

YouTube stars like Dimoldenberg and Evans won’t get the props they deserve at the Emmys, but fans of TV hits like Shogun and The Bear can expect their favorite shows to get some love. The 2024 Emmy ceremony will take place on September 15, with ABC set to broadcast from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.