Netflix Beats HBO in Emmy Nominations for First Time

After almost two decades dominating with the most Emmy nominations, HBO's streak has ended in 2018 with Netflix securing the most nominations out of television show providers available.

The streaming giant received 112 nominations for the 70th annual primetime Emmy Awards. Up 20 from 2017, when it scored 91 nominations. In turn, HBO garnered 108 nominations (down from 111 in 2017) — despite the return of Game of Thrones to eligibility with its seventh season.

NBC landed third in 2018 with 78 nominations and FX fourth with 50, Entertainment Weekly reports.

HBO, however, still housed the most nominated series, with Game of Thrones securing 22 nominations, including a first acting nod for Nikolaj Coster-Waldau for his role as Jamie Lannister, followed by Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale (20) and FX's Atlanta (18), Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (14) and HBO's Barry (13).

How did Netflix dethrone the cable network without having any shows in the list of top nominated series? Quantity, of course.

The streaming service's answer to standing out from its competition in the cluttered landscape is not by doing a few high-quality series, but to make many shows of fairly good quality.

Netflix gathered nominations for 40 of its original titles. The Crown, which chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II, picked up 13 nods. Stranger Things got 12. Critical darling GLOW scored 10. Black Mirror got seven.

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, technically a CNN offering streaming on Netflix got five. Ozark got five, including a lead actor nomination for Jason Bateman. All of these nominations add up to give Netflix the victory.

Netflix also reportedly spent a considerable amount of money marketing its series during awards season. HBO has been good at that in the past as well, but Netflix had a lot more contenders.

"We congratulate our creative partners on their unprecedented success today, garnering Netflix a leading 112 nominations," said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos in a statement. "We are particularly enthused to see the breadth of our programming celebrated with nominations spread across 40 new and returning titles which showcase our varied and expansive slate – comedies, dramas, movies, limited series, documentary, variety, animation and reality."

HBO also released a statement, though less enthusiastic given their move to No. 2: "HBO is very pleased with its 108 nominations, especially the wide range over so many categories. We're grateful to all our nominees for making this the eighth year we've had 100 nominations or more. We look forward to Sept. 17th."

The upset will surely add to the recent conversations among HBO and AT&T executives, who have hinted at plans to expand the cable network's offerings, from a boutique network of shows focused on providing quality entertainment on Sunday nights, to a broader content creator aimed at providing "more hours of engagement," much like Netflix.

Let's just say, HBO could be facing some major changes in the near future. Take a look at the full list of nominations for the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air Monday, Sept. 17 on NBC.