Disney Dominates Children’s & Family Emmy Nominations — But Are Viewers Watching?

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The Children’s & Family Emmy Awards recently revealed its nominees, and Disney is in the lead with an impressive 103 nominations.

A total of 27 shows, short films, specials, and series from across Disney’s brands are nominated for awards. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew from Lucasfilm leads with 17 nominations, followed by Disney’s Descendants: The Rise of Red and Goosebumps: The Vanishing with 11. Programs from Pixar, National Geographic, and Marvel are also in contention for awards.

Families who subscribe to Disney+ just to watch Bluey might be surprised to find the service offers over twenty other shows designed for young children.

Selection Process

As a big TV fan, I’ve always been curious about how the Emmys work. It’s not about what’s popular or even still on the air! The awards are actually decided by people working in the television industry themselves. And just so you know, the Children’s & Family Emmys are a completely separate event from the main Emmy ceremony.

When the Emmy nominees were announced, Rachel Schwartz, who leads the Children’s & Family Emmy Awards, shared her excitement about recognizing the talented people who create children’s and family TV. She also noted the growing variety of programming and research showing how educational shows benefit young children, and expressed her anticipation for celebrating these impactful contributions.

What really matters is whether programs resonate with viewers – if people find them impactful, meaningful, and inspiring. While Disney receives a lot of Emmy nominations and their shows are likely well-made, it’s worth asking if anyone outside of the Emmy voters is actually watching and connecting with them.

Skeleton Audience

Despite receiving 17 nominations, including one for Outstanding Young Teen Series, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew didn’t perform well with viewers. Although the show had positive buzz, it didn’t appear on Nielsen’s streaming charts at all, suggesting potential Star Wars fatigue among audiences rather than a reflection of the show’s quality. Currently, it has a 62% rating on Criticless, based on 32 votes.

We’re thrilled to congratulate the team behind Skeleton Crew on receiving 17 Children’s and Family Emmy® Award nominations, including one for Outstanding Young Teen Series!

— Star Wars (@starwars) November 19, 2025

Look, an Emmy win might give Skeleton Crew a tiny boost, but honestly, I don’t think it’ll save it. The show spent a lot of money, and not enough people were watching, so a second season feels pretty unlikely. It used to be that anything Star Wars was a guaranteed hit, especially with younger guys like me. But it feels like Disney has lost touch with that audience, and that’s a real shame.

Ironically, Descendants: The Rise of Red, a property targeted at girls, did very well.

The Rise and Fall of Descendants

When it premiered on Disney+, The Rise of Red (which was nominated for a special fiction award) quickly became the platform’s most popular live-action original movie in two years. After twelve weeks, it had been viewed 33 million times. But that was back in the summer of 2024, which feels like a long time ago in the fast-moving world of pop culture. More recently, KPop Demon Hunters has become a huge hit and captured the public’s attention.

Top 15 trending Halloween costumes for 2025, according to Google

Here’s a ranking of popular characters and figures: 15. Glinda, 14. Toothless, 13. The Nurse from Silent Hill, 12. Nightwing, 11. Hamilton, 10. The Lorax, 9. Elphaba, 8. Derpy (from KPOP Demon Hunters), 7. Labubu, 6. The Chicken Jockey (from Minecraft), 5. Baby Saja (from KPOP Demon Hunters), and 4…

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 16, 2025

Despite a brief moment of popularity, costumes from the show Descendants weren’t among the most popular choices for Halloween this year. It seems the show hasn’t had a significant impact on wider pop culture beyond its dedicated fans.

Emmy nominations are good. Viewership is preferable.

Conclusion

While Disney often wins awards, viewing numbers show that most people are only watching a small part of what they offer. Shows like Win or Lose have had moments of popularity, but many of the Emmy nominations are for children’s programs. Bluey is particularly popular – and Disney actually licenses that show.

Now that Disney has stopped sharing how many people subscribe to its streaming services, it’s hard to tell if anyone is actually watching shows like RoboGogo, Disney Junior’s Ariel, or Big City Greens. We’d need to analyze Nielsen’s ratings to find out, and the fact that it takes that much effort might indicate a problem.

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2025-11-26 22:57