The Television Academy announced changes for the 2016 Emmy Awards, which will make fans of YouTubers and other creators who make short-form content happy.
The Emmys will be more inclusive to content that is only available through streaming sites like YouTube and Crackle by including short form categories. “Short-form content” is defined as running 15 minutes or less per episode and must have at least six episodes.
Stars in these programs can win Outstanding Actor or Actress in a Short Form Series. Other categories include Outstanding Short Form Series, Variety; Outstanding Short Series; Comedy/Drama; and Outstanding Short Form Series, Reality/Nonfiction. These awards will be handed out at the Creative Arts Emmys, which was just expanded to two nights.
“What was clear to the governors is that there is a rapid acceleration in the volume of terrific creative work being done by our members in the space,” TV Academy CEO/Chairman Bruce Rosenblum told Variety. “One of the primary goals for our organization is to award creative excellence. There was no reason why we shouldn’t be awarding creative excellence in short-form digital content as well.”
The addition of the short form categories helps the Emmys compete with the Streamy and Webby Awards. Of course, the Emmys already have a built-in reputation as the most-respected awards for television, so this can be seen as a major group in Hollywood realizing the importance of streaming content. The Emmys have already honored shows on Amazon and Netflix.
Two main categories were changed as well, notes The Hollywood Reporter. The Outstanding Writing Drama and Comedy categories were expanded to six nominees from only five. That move was a must, since the Academy expanded the main Series categories to seven nominees each.
"To limit ourselves to five nominees seemed a little antiquated,” Rosenblum told THR.