Netflix has just become the top Emmy-nominated network

Netflix just broke HBO’s 17-year streak as the network with the most Emmy nominations - the streaming service was nominated for a whopping 112 awards at this year’s ceremony while HBO sits at a still-respectable 108.

While HBO’s heavy hitters still racked up a dragon’s hoard of nominations between them (Game of Thrones is nominated for 22 awards and Westworld has 21), Netflix has a number of shows that all have 10 awards or more including GLOW, Stranger Things, Godless and The Crown, which combined have 47 award nominations between them.

Add up all the award nominations and Netflix is now the top Emmy nominated ‘network’, a term that we can now apply in the loosest of terms.

The point here is that, while the Emmy awards may seem like trivial pieces of metal arbitrarily decided by committees that seem paid off by high-end gift baskets, they do serve a real purpose in the TV industry as a watermark: They help us compare which networks (or in this case, streaming services) are producing the highest-rated content and which networks need to step their game up if they want to keep pace with the times.

And the winner is…

Netflix claiming the top spot at the awards this year isn’t just about ousting HBO, it’s a milestone for streaming services as a whole. It wasn’t until 2013 that Netflix won a single award for House of Cards, the first original online-only web television series to receive major nominations for the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards and now, just five years later, Netflix has more awards than any other content maker.

The importance of that achievement can’t be understated.

While other streaming services didn’t do as well as Netflix did, Hulu was nominated for 27 awards, and Amazon Prime was right behind them at 22 - most of which are from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

With award nominations in hand and facing some fierce competition, Netflix will be off to the red carpet come September 17.

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Nick Pino is Managing Editor, TV and AV for TechRadar's sister site, Tom's Guide. Previously, he was the Senior Editor of Home Entertainment at TechRadar, covering TVs, headphones, speakers, video games, VR and streaming devices. He's also written for GamesRadar+, Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and other outlets over the last decade, and he has a degree in computer science he's not using if anyone wants it.