For the third year in a row, the number of programs competing for the Primetime Emmy Awards has dropped, according to ballots that were posted on the Television Academy website on Thursday, the first day of Emmy nomination voting.
Overall, the 14 long-form program categories listed on the ballot had 84 fewer submissions this year than in 2025. Last year had suffered a smaller drop in the total number of eligible shows, but pandemic-era delays and the actors’ and writers’ strikes had reduced the number of competing shows in 2024 by nearly 40%.
Thursday’s figures make it clear that the production slowdown of the early 2020s was not temporary, perhaps trimming the always-mammoth Emmy ballot for good.
Among this year’s program categories, the only ones to have an increase in submissions over last year were comedy series, variety special (live) and unstructured reality program, each of which had two more entries than last year.
The other 11 long-form categories on the ballot all fell, with the biggest drops coming in variety special (pre-recorded), which fell by 23; drama series, which dropped by 16; limited or anthology series, 13; and documentary/nonfiction special, 11.
In most Emmy categories, rules determine the number of nominees by the number of entries in that category: 20 to 80 entries call for five nominees, 81 to 160 means six, 161 to 240 means seven and more than 241 means eight. But they also guarantee that Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Comedy Series will have eight nominees each. If the top drama and comedy series were subject to the same rule as the other categories, the comedy category (71 eligible series) would only have five nominees this year, and drama (110) would have six.
In the acting categories the Emmy scale will mean that, barring ties, the lead acting categories in comedy, drama and limited series will all have only five nominees for the second year in a row.
The supporting acting categories will have seven nominees in comedy and drama and six in limited series, while the guest acting categories will all have six nominees (again, barring ties that could add extra nominees).
Overall, the drama acting categories had 38 fewer submissions this year than they did in 2025, while the comedy categories had a modest gain of four submissions. Acting contenders in the limited series categories, though, fell dramatically for the third year in a row, with 40 fewer submissions in supporting actor and 39 fewer in supporting actress.
In all of the performing categories, including hosting, narration and voice-over performance, almost 150 fewer actors are in the running this year than last.
The two short-form program categories had a small increase in submissions, but the Outstanding Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category fell sharply, dropping by more than half from 27 contenders last year to only 11 this year.
Here’s the number of submissions in the program, performing, directing and writing categories, with the increase or decrease over last year’s numbers:
Program categories
Comedy Series: 71 (+2) Drama Series: 110 (-16) Limited or Anthology Series: 31 (-13) Television Movie: 34 (-5) Variety Series: 18 (-1) Variety Special (Live): 28 (+2) Variety Special (Pre-Recorded): 66 (-23) Short-Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series: 18 (+4) Short-Form Nonfiction or Reality Series: 31 (+3)
Nonfiction, documentary and reality program categories
Documentary or Nonfiction Special: 38 (-11) Documentary or Nonfiction Series: 27 (-7) Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special: 23 (-3) Structured Reality Program: 18 (-5) Unstructured Reality Program: 38 (+2) Reality Competition Program: 45 (-5) Game Show: 24 (-1)
Comedy acting categories
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: 43 (-8) Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: 46 (-1) Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 185 (+2) Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: 149 (+8) Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: 88 (-9) Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: 82 (+12)
Drama acting categories
Lead Actor in a Drama Series: 78 (+1) Lead Actress in a Drama Series: 63 (-12) Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: 228 (-5) Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: 222 (-3) Guest Actor in a Drama Series: 84 (-3) Guest Actress in a Drama Series: 51 (-16)
Limited series/TV movie acting categories
Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 52 (+4) Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 41 (-12) Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 84 (-40) Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 66 (-39)
Other performing categories
Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series: 11 (-16) Character Voice-Over Performance: 123 (-19) Narrator: 21 (-1) Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program: 56 (+8) Host for a Game Show: 22 (+2)
Directing categories
Directing for a Drama Series: 136 (-37) Directing for a Comedy Series: 99 (no change) Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 68 (-33) Directing for a Variety Series: 12 (-5) Directing for a Variety Special: 55 (-28) Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program: 65 (-14) Directing for a Reality Program: 53 (+9)
Writing categories
Writing for a Drama Series: 98 (-34) Writing for a Comedy Series: 91 (-3) Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 55 (-16) Writing for a Variety Series: 11 (-1) Writing for a Variety Special: 46 (-15) Writing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program: 11 (-9) Writing for a Reality Program: 44
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