The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series was an award presented by the

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...

(NATAS) and

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...

(ATAS). The first incarnation of the award was the

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for Outstanding Special Class Short Format Daytime, which was given to the

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

'' Venice: The Series'' at the

38th Daytime Emmy Awards The 38th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, June 19, 2011, at the Las Vegas Hilton, and were televised on CBS. The Daytime Entertainment Creative Arts Emmy Awards were presented two days earlier on June 17 at the Westin Bonaventure H ...

in 2011. The category became Outstanding New Approaches Original Daytime Program or Series in 2013, and evolved into Outstanding New Approaches Drama Series in 2014. It was renamed Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series in 2016. In 2015, Alina Adams of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' attributed the addition and evolution of the category to the increasing audience for, and presence of, independent soap opera web series. The associated category Outstanding Performer in a New Approaches Drama Series was added for the 42nd Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2015, with

Martha Byrne Mary Martha Byrne (born December 23, 1969) is an American actress, singer and television writer. She played the role of Lily Walsh Snyder on the soap opera ''As the World Turns'' from 1985 to 1989, then again from 1993 to 2008; as well as, from ...

the first recipient for her role as Alexis Jordan/Joanne Edwards on ''

Anacostia Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. It is located east of the Anacostia River, after which the neighborhood is nam ...

''. In 2016, this was split into two categories, Outstanding Actress in a Digital Daytime Drama Series and Outstanding Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series, with

Mary Beth Evans Mary Beth Evans (born March 7, 1961) is an American television actress, known for her role as Kayla Brady on the NBC daytime soap ''Days of Our Lives'', and her role as Sierra Estaban on the CBS daytime soap ''As the World Turns''. Career Evans ...

and

Kristos Andrews Kristos Andrews is a British-American actor, producer, director, who is an 11-time Emmy winner. Andrews is the only individual in history to receive Emmy wins for all three professions of acting, directing, and producing. Moreover, he has re ...

winning for their mother-son roles of Sara and Peter Garrett on '' The Bay''. These performer categories were further expanded to four for the

44th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards The 44th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony, which honors the crafts behind American daytime television programming, was held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on April 28, 2017. The event was presented in conjunction ...

: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Digital Daytime Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress in a Digital Daytime Drama Series, and Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series. In 2018, the Outstanding Supporting or Guest Actress/Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series categories became Outstanding Supporting Actress/Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series, and a fifth performer category was added, Outstanding Guest Performer in a Digital Daytime Drama Series. New categories were also added for Outstanding Writing in a Digital Drama Series and Outstanding Directing in a Digital Drama Series. To be eligible for the Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series category, programming was required to be "continuous, episodic works of dramatic fiction from over-the-air, cable, satellite and internet broadcasters" which have more than three but less than 35 original episodes; 35 episodes was the minimum required for the main

Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series is an award presented annually by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It was first awarded at the 24th Primetime Emmy ...

category. The award recognized producers, directors, and writers credited on a minimum of 19 percent of total episodes first aired in the applicable year. The performer categories applied to actresses and actors who appeared in these series. The Digital Daytime Drama Series and related performer awards were typically awarded as part of the

Creative Arts Emmy Award The Creative Arts Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of technical and other similar achievements in American television programming. They are commonly awarded to behind-the-scenes personnel such as production designers, set ...

s ceremony, a separate presentation of awards which included recognition of technical and craft categories. In December 2021, the ATAS and the NATAS announced a major realignment of the Daytime and

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

ceremonies. Other than daytime serial dramas (as defined as an episodic, multi-camera drama serial that airs on a weekday basis, or a reboot or spin-off of such a series) or children's programming (which will move to the new

Children's & Family Emmy Awards The Children's and Family Emmy Awards, or Children's and Family Emmys, are a part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts a ...

), all categories for scripted comedies and dramas will now fall under Primetime Emmys, regardless of scheduling.

Winners and nominees

Crystal Chappell 2010 Daytime Emmy Awards

The winner in each category is in bold.

Notes

References

External links

Daytime Emmy Awards
{{Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Digital Drama Series Retired Daytime Emmy Awards Awards established in 2011 Awards disestablished in 2021