HBO led the parade at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, but without its biggest franchise, "Game of Thrones," the competition between Warner Media's premium network and streaming players Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Prime Video is set to grow even more intense next year.
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The HBO fantasy skein's final campaign tallied an all-time, single-season-tying high mark of 12 wins, including 10 Creative Emmys, as well as recognition for Peter Dinklage, who won his fourth supporting actor statue as Tyrion Lannister. HBO's "Chernobyl" was the top limited series, and the network added Emmys for Bill Hader as lead comedy actor in "Barry" and for "Last Week Tonight," the winner for a variety talk show and writing for a variety series. Altogether, HBO scored 34 Emmys, including 25 for creative arts, versus 27 total awards for Netflix and 15 for Amazon Prime.
Netflix tied HBO for most overall wins in 2018, despite eclipsing the premium network for total nominations that year. With the upcoming launch of Warner Media's HBO Max, the battle for consumer attention and wallets will become more intense. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu and premium network Showtime will increase their commitments to originals as the chase for Emmy prestige takes on even greater importance.
Netflix won a quartet of Emmys in the Sept. 22 awards telecast: "When They See Us" star Jharrel Jerome brought home the award for best actor in a limited series; "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch" took best TV movie; Jason Bateman won the drama directing award for "Ozark"; and Julia Garner collected the best supporting trophy for her work on the show.
Amazon Prime Video scored 15 total Emmys this year, including eight for creative arts, and its comedy "Fleabag" dethroned Amazon's own "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" as best comedy. "Fleabag" took in six wins, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge's statue for lead actress in a comedic series. "Mrs. Maisel" won eight, including trophies for Alex Borstein and Tony Shalhoub as best supporting actress and actor, respectively, and several creative awards.
For the broadcasters, it was a disappointing evening. NBC (US)'s iconic "Saturday Night Live" earned a pair of wins for best variety sketch series and directing for a variety series. Otherwise, the broadcasters would have been shut out on TV's big awards telecast. Collectively, the group earned 14 Emmys, mostly for creative arts, down from 23 last year.
Basic cable fared better. FX (US) picked up a pair of awards Sept. 22, with Billy Porter claiming the best drama actor for "Pose," while Michelle Williams picked up the award for lead actress in a limited series or movie for "Fosse/Verdon." VH1 (US)'s "RuPaul's Drag Race" was lauded as the best competition show. Jodie Comer was honored as lead actress in a drama for her work in "Killing Eve," besting co-star Sandra Oh.
A full list of the winners at the Primetime Emmy Awards can be found here.

