How To Watch The 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards

The 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards are here, and it's time to celebrate the best in soap, talk show, and food programming. The daytime output of television's most prestigious honor had its first ceremony in 1974 — 25 years after the first official Emmy Awards back in 1949.

The decision to give daytime programming its own spotlight came just two years after the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences — the governing body that now hosts both versions of the awards show — created the new category of outstanding achievement in daytime drama for the Emmys' 1972 ceremony. Beloved shows "The Doctors" and "General Hospital" enjoyed nominations and wins that year, and the following year, Mary Fickett of "All My Children" was recognized with the award for outstanding individual achievement in daytime drama, making her the first soap star to win an Emmy.

Knowing the importance this day holds for daytime programming, the 2026 group of presenters represents some of the most storied names in television's daytime programming over the years. Fans can expect Susan Walters, Paul Telfer, Tamara Tunie, Crystal Chappell, Eva LaRue, and many others to grace the stage and bestow honors on the latest crop of winners. Many of the presenters this year are themselves previous Daytime Emmy winners and nominees, making it a truly special group.

Want to tune in and see the winners live? The 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards will be available through their official website, official app, and YouTube. Here's everything else we know about tonight's awards.

This year's Daytime Emmy Awards will take place tonight, Friday, October 30, with the ceremony streaming at 8 p.m. Eastern time and 5 p.m. Pacific time. The show used to be held around May and June, but as of 2025, the festivities were moved to October. It has yet to be announced how long the awards show will run this year, but considering these shows typically span at least two hours, it stands to reason that this year's event will be just as long.

Plus, in a similar move to last year, the Daytime Emmy Awards do not have a separate Creative Arts Emmys ceremony this year. That means the awards that would have been given out at the Creative Arts ceremony will all be rolled in to the main event, pretty much ensuring the Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony will be at least a couple of hours long.

The 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards will be taking place at the historic Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood, California, which marks the first time the event will be held at this venue — but certainly not the first time the Daytime Emmys have taken place in Los Angeles.

The event has also been held in New York City, where it began its broadcasts in the 1970s and stayed through the 1980s, 1990s, and the first half of the 2000s. The 33rd annual ceremony, in 2006, was held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, the first time the event had been hosted outside of NYC. It remained in Los Angeles for a few years before spending a couple of years in Las Vegas. The ceremony has taken place in various Los Angeles locales — including Pasadena and Beverly Hills — since its post-Vegas return, with the exception of the 2020 and 2021 ceremonies, which were virtual due to COVID-19.

Interestingly enough, this year's Daytime Emmy Awards are going in a different direction when it comes to their host. Instead of having the typical onstage master of ceremonies guide presenters, honorees, and viewers through the show, "Cheap A$$ Beach Houses" narrator Matthew Hoffman will be serving as the show's "Voice of God." That offstage role — which will see Hoffman acting as an announcer while also narrating the goings-on of the ceremony through the wit and comedy he proudly features in his home improvement and reality programming — will allow the show to be physically led by presenters, nominees, and winners. 

Last year, the ceremony was hosted by Mario Lopez, known for his hosting work on "Access Hollywood" and "Extra" and his television work on projects like one of TV's most famous Saturday-morning shows, "Saved By the Bell." He is also part of the soap world, having previously appeared on the iconic program "The Bold and the Beautiful" as Dr. Christian Ramirez, the brother of firefighter Hector Ramirez (Lorenzo Lamas). It was the fourth time overall that Lopez had hosted the event, but his first time doing so by himself. He had previously hosted alongside actress Sheryl Underwood. 

Prior to Lopez's solo hosting stint, Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner, the hosts from legendary celebrity news brand "Entertainment Tonight," led the evening in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

The list of nominees for this year's Daytime Emmy Awards is stacked with soap opera, talk show, legal, and food programming greats. "The Young and the Restless," one of the best-known soaps of all time, leads with 18 nominations, while "Beyond the Gates" is in second with 15 nominations. Three other generational soaps round out the pack, with "General Hospital" securing 13 nominations, "Days of Our Lives" garnering eight nominations, and "The Bold and the Beautiful" landing seven nominations. This is the third year in a row that "Y&R" is the most-nominated soap program at the Daytime Emmys, but there's a great crop of soaps represented across the board. 

When it comes to the event's Lifetime Achievement Award, "General Hospital" star Genie Francis will be recognized with the accolade after nearly 50 years with the iconic show, highlighting the soap star's longtime tenure as Laura Spencer (also known as Laura Collins).

There are a few ways to tune in to the 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards — but believe it or not, none of them include access to standard television. The Daytime Emmys haven't been conventionally televised since 2024, when the event aired on CBS.

The awards ceremony will be available to stream through the official site of the Emmy Awards, as well as the official Emmys app, available in your device's app store. Neither method requires a cable provider or a paid subscription, but they both do require viewers to create an account to watch. Alternatively, audiences can catch the awards show via the official Emmys YouTube channel, where the ceremony will stream in its entirety, if they don't want to create an account to view the event.

Fans will be able to watch this year's Daytime Emmy Awards for free across a myriad of devices, including computers, phones, tablets, smart TVs, external smart TV devices (such as Chromecast), and Apple TV devices. However, because the show will not be televised, it will not be accessible through any internet-based live TV services, such as Sling TV, Fubo, or YouTube TV, using their live TV channels option.