Friday night was a good night for daytime!  With its first foray back on to network television since 2011, the Daytime Emmy kudofest, while for the first time held this year virtually, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, scored very well in its timeslot.

The CBS broadcast averaged 3.1 million total viewers and a 0.3 demo rating.  That is way up from the last time viewers saw the award show on TV when it was on cable network POP TV back in 2015 with just over 900,000 viewers for its initial broadcast.

According to TV Insider report: The first hour of the Emmys garnered 3.3 million viewers to top the hour by edging out a rerun on ABC”s Shark Tank, and then slipped to second place for the second hour with 2.8 million viewers.

These were strong numbers for Friday night, and hopefully CBS and the other major networks will now continue this, and serve up the Daytime Emmy Awards moving forward.

Courtesy/CBS

The ladies of CBS’s The Talk hosted the event; each virtually from their homes, in an event filled with at-home acceptance speeches and presenters, and clip packages. The show was produced by NATAS and Associated Television International

So, what do you think of the ratings performance of this year’s Daytime Emmys?  Comment below.

The 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were presented tonight on CBS in the first virtual Emmys ceremony and broadcast.

It was CBS’ The Young and the Restless that won big on the night taking home 8 trophies; including Outstanding Drama Series, and one for Lead Actor for Jason Thompson (Billy Abbott), who finally won an Emmy on his sixth acting nomination, but first for Y&R.

In an historic moment, The Bold and the Beautiful’s Heather Tom (Katie) tied Erika Slezak (Ex-Viki, OLTL) by winning a record-tying sixth Daytime Emmy for her role as Katie Logan Spencer in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category.

Tamara Braun (Ex-Kim, General Hospital) won her second Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series award having won years earlier for her work Ava Vitali on Days of our Lives.   Bryton James (Devon, Y&R) won for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, his second Emmy but first in more than 13 years.  He previously won for Younger Actor in a Drama Series.

General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful were the next shows that won the most Emmys for the night with 4

In a statement, NATAS, President and CEO, Adam Sharp shares: “Tonight, we did not let the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 keep up from honoring some of the most talented contributors to our Daytime Television community.  We celebrated not only the best programming and performances of the last year, but reflected on the legacy of Daytime’s biggest moments and icons.”

The broadcast was produced by NATAS and Associated Television International.

Below are the winners in the daytime drama and digital drama categories revealed tonight:

Outstanding Drama Series

The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Digital Drama Series

The Bay

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Thompson, The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Heather Tom, The Bold and the Beautiful

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Tamara Braun, General Hospital

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Bryton James, The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Younger Performer in a Drama Series

Olivia Rose Keegan, Days of our Lives

Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series

Eva LaRue, The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Writing Team in a Drama Series

The Bold and the Beautiful

Outstanding Directing Team in  a Drama Series

General Hospital

Outstanding Technical Team for a Drama Series

General Hospital

Outstanding Multiple Camera Editing for a Drama or Digital Drama Series

General Hospital

Outstanding Lighting Direction for a Drama or Digital Drama Series

The Bold and the Beautiful and Dark Web (Tie)

Outstanding Casting for a Drama or Digital Drama Series

EastSiders

Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama or Digital Drama Series

Days of our Lives

Outstanding Live and Direct to Tape Sound Mixing for a Drama Series

The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design for a Drama or Digital Drama Series

The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Costume Design for a Drama or Digital Drama Series

The Bold and the Beautiful

Outstanding Hairstyling for a Drama Series

The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Makeup for a Drama Series

The Young and the Restless

So, what do you think about this year’s winners? Were you thrilled or was your favorite snubbed? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.

Michael Fairman TV will be updating this post throughout the evening,

Friday night, daytime fans, soap fans, and all the hard working people in front of the camera and behind the scenes that make your favorite soap operas come to life; will be awaiting the announcement in 15 categories to see who is the recipients of this year’s 47th annual Daytime Emmys.

The show finally back on network TV and on CBS, and according to Variety the show is going to be pre-taped, but to keep the element of surprise, presenters  appearing on the Emmys were asked to tape 5 different envelope openings — and every nominee in the major categories presented will have been asked to tape an acceptance speech.

As for keeping the winners’ identities under wraps, NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp shared: “We’ve established an internal process so that actual knowledge of the winner is kept as a need-to-know basis on a category-by-category basis.  Certainly as we get closer to final delivery of the show, on the week of the 26th, there will be those who start seeing the whole picture come together. But obviously, a big goal of that is keeping that circle small.”

Photo: CBS

Look for more clips and visuals than usual in the virtual Daytime Emmys.  According to ATI’s, Al Schwartz who is executive producing the telecast: “Since it’s pre-taped, we can really present, for the viewers’ entertainment, the best possible visuals for each nominee. There’s going to be time to breathe in this show. And also, there’s time to keep the pacing up, so that it doesn’t get monotonous.”

The ladies of The Talk serve as hosts for Daytime’s biggest night, even though everyone will be shown from their homes.  It all starts at 8 p. m. EST/7 p. m. CST and tape delayed on the west coast airing at 8 p. m. PST.

So, how do you think the first ever virtual Daytime Emmys will be? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.