For the second 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.
Unlike last year, when the effects of the pandemic and the actors’ and writers’ strikes caused the number of submissions to fall by almost 40%, the 2025 drop was relatively small – though also a bit surprising, suggesting that the industry has yet to recover from the hits it has taken over the past five years.
In the 16 program categories in which a year-to-year comparison was possible, nine had fewer entries this year than last, two had the same number of entries and five had more submissions this time around.
The most dramatic drop came in the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series category, which fell to only 33 eligible programs from 2024’s 49 and 2023’s 61. The only other program category suffering a double-digit drop was Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series, which fell by 14 entries to 34.
Categories that had single-digit drops were comedy series; TV movie; talk show; hosted nonfiction; structured and unstructured reality; and short form comedy, drama or variety. The live-variety special and reality-competition categories had the same number of entries as last year.
Categories that had more submissions this year than last were led by Outstanding Drama Series, which jumped from 107 entries in 2024 to 126 in 2025 (that’s still well short of the 171 dramas that were eligible two years ago). Gains also came in the pre-recorded variety special, documentary special, game show and short-form nonfiction categories.
Overall, though, fewer programs were submitted than in 2024, which itself had brought a steep decline from the previous year.
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. That wrinkle in the rulebook is a fortunate one for dramas and comedies this year, because if they were subject to the scale used in other categories, drama would have only six nominees and comedy only five.
In the acting categories, though, the Emmy scale will mean that, barring ties, the lead acting categories in comedy, drama and limited series will all have only five nominees, something that has hasn’t happened since 2007 in drama and has only happened twice in the last 16 years in comedy.
The supporting acting categories will go up to seven for comedy and drama and to six for 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 90 more submissions this year than they did in 2024, while the comedy categories had a more modest gain of 14 submissions. Acting contenders in the limited series categories, though, fell substantially.
Here’s the number of submissions in the program and performing categories:
Comedy Series: 69 (-4)
Drama Series: 126 (+19)
Limited or Anthology Series: 44 (-16)
Television Movie: 39 (-3)
Talk Series: 13 (-1)
Scripted Variety Series: 6 (figure not released last year)
Variety Special (Live): 26 (unchanged from last year)
Variety Special (Pre-Recorded): 89 (+10)
Short-Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series: 14 (-4)
Short-Form Nonfiction or Reality Series: 28 (unchanged)
Documentary or Nonfiction Special: 49 (+4)
Documentary or Nonfiction Series: 34 (-14)
Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special: 26 (-5)
Structured Reality Program: 23 (-5)
Unstructured Reality Program: 36 (-2)
Reality Competition Program: 50 (unchanged)
Game Show: 25 (+3)
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: 51 (-4)
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: 47 (-6)
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: 183 (+16)
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: 141 (+9)
Guest Actor in a Comedy Series: 97 (+4)
Guest Actress in a Comedy Series: 74 (-5)
Lead Actor in a Drama Series: 77 (-4)
Lead Actress in a Drama Series: 75 (+8)
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: 233 (+16)
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: 225 (+31)
Guest Actor in a Drama Series: 87 (+34)
Guest Actress in a Drama Series: 67 (+8)
Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 48 (-22)
Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 53 (-9)
Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 124 (-37)
Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: 105 (-32)
Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series: 27 (+14)
Character Voice-Over Performance: 142 (-16)
Narrator: 22 (-1)
Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program: 48 (-36)
Host for a Game Show: 20 (figure not released last year)
The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards are set to air Sept. 14 on CBS and Paramount+.
