The upcoming Daytime Emmy Awards will be ⅓ longer than usual thanks to a decision by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to expand the annual celebration to three nights instead of the previous two. The decision was announced back in October, but now NATAS President and CEO, Adam Sharp, is giving a more in-depth explanation into the factors that led the organization to lengthen the Emmy extravaganza -- which may give soap operas their own time to shine.
In a new interview with Variety, Sharp previews what fans can look forward to for each of the three days of celebration, set to happen on Friday, June 12; Saturday, June 13; and Sunday, June 14, in Pasadena, California.
"You can expect one night that is very similar to the traditional creative arts, technical crafts format; one night that will be very focused on the dramas and talk shows and some of those traditional mainstays of daytime; and then one night that is focused on those categories in which we've seen explosive growth over the last several years, particularly fueled by streaming categories such as young adult, children's programming, travel, culinary and so on," he teases.
As Soap Central previously reported, one of the reasons NATAS decided to expand the Daytime Emmy Awards was to give more time to each winner to celebrate their big moments. In this new interview, Sharp explains that thinking further, stating that the "manageability" of event had become an issue, particularly because the creative arts awards has exploded into 70-plus categories.
"I think by cramming so many categories into one night with a single creative arts ceremony, a lot of people did not get that spotlight because we were going through three times as many categories in the same amount of time," he explains. "And so, while the pacing will be a bit different for each night, I think all the winners and nominees will have a little bit more opportunity to have their moment in the sun."
Speaking of having a moment, the awards themselves are being given their due with a brand new broadcast home: NATAS announced in February that it will launch its own streaming service that will serve as the exclusive destination for the Daytime Emmys broadcast. As of now, there's been no update as to what the service will be called or when it will launch, but Variety reports that the "new over-the-top platform is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2020" and will likely have "Emmys" in its official name.
For more information on the big changes expected at this year's Daytime Emmy Awards, click here.
What do you think about NATAS' decision to expand the Daytime Emmy Awards to three nights instead of the usual two? Do you think the new format will allow more time for daytime dramas to shine? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
