The Television Academy has confirmed that, for the second year running, it will unveil the Emmy nominations for the late-night and reality categories earlier than the rest of the field. The nominees for Outstanding Variety Series and Outstanding Reality Competition Program will be announced on NBC's Today between 4:45am and 5:20am PT, ahead of the main reveal. The early billing matters because these are the two categories in which broadcast television is most strongly represented, giving those networks a prominent early-morning showcase.

The move creates a three-hour gap before the remaining nominations are announced at 8:30am PT by The Bear's Liza Colón-Zayas and Widow's Bay's Jeff Hiller. It follows CBS's lead last year, and this time the reveal shifts to NBC. Favourites in the merged Variety Series category include The Daily Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Saturday Night Live, while the reality field is expected to feature Top Chef, The Traitors, The Amazing Race, Survivor and RuPaul's Drag Race, with NBC's The Voice a possible contender after missing out last year.