Streamy Awards

The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are an awards show presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and writing. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented takes place in Los Angeles, California. It was the first awards show dedicated entirely to web series.
The Streamy Awards were initially devised by Drew Baldwin, Brady Brim-DeForest and Marc Hustvedt of Tubefilter and Joshua Cohen and Jamison Tilsner of Tilzy.tv. Prior to the Streamy Awards, other award shows existed to celebrate online content, but the Streamy Awards was the first to celebrate web series in particular.
The 1st Annual Streamy Awards were held on March 28, 2009 at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles. Presented by the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) and co-hosted by Tubefilter, NewTeeVee and Tilzy.TV, the event was reportedly attended by 1,300 audience members. Winners in the 25 categories included The Guild and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along, which both won multiple awards, Joss Whedon and Felicia Day.
The 2nd Annual Streamy Awards were hosted by comedian Paul Scheer and streamed live online from the Orpheum Theatre on April 11, 2010. The production experienced technical problems and interruptions due to people streaking the stage. Scheer's jokes were also poorly received with audience members and influencers in attendance finding them unfunny, sexist and deprecatory of internet culture. Due to poor reception and execution of the show, the IAWTV halted its partnership with Tubefilter and co-production of the award ceremony and formed their own Web TV awards presentation.
Following the poorly received 2nd Streamy Awards, the Streamys went into hiatus for two years. During this time, in 2011, Tubefilter entered a partnership with established entertainment industry awards show producer Dick Clark Productions (producers of the American Music Awards, among others) to co-produce the 3rd Streamy Awards in an attempt to repair the award's legitimacy. They were held in 2013 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, and livestreamed across YouTube and multiple streaming networks simultaneously. Commentators noted the show's increased professionalism but some creators such as Felicia Day criticized the shift towards acceptance of old media.
The 4th Streamy Awards were hosted by Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart and were held on September 7, 2014 at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills. The event introduced ten new award categories, including one for the short-form video website Vine, and featured fan-voted submissions for the first time. A toast dedicated to the recently passed-away Joan Rivers was described as "the evening's most somber moment" and "an authentic and intimate salute". But the show was also criticized for being more corporate, with the inclusion of product placement and shout-outs to large companies.
The 5th Streamy Awards were broadcast live on VH1 on September 17, 2015, and hosted by Grace Helbig and Tyler Oakley. Held at the Hollywood Palladium, they were the first Streamy Awards to be televised. They were also simultaneously livestreamed. New award categories were once again added for videos posted to social media websites such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine. They were also the first Streamys to feature the Breakout Creator and Breakthrough Artist awards.
The 6th Streamy Awards were hosted by King Bach and broadcast live on YouTube on October 4, 2016, from The Beverly Hilton hotel. Unlike the 5th Streamy Awards, the show was not televised, apparently due to a desire to "return to its digital roots". The ceremony featured a medley of songs dedicated to Christina Grimmie, who was shot and killed outside of a concert venue earlier in the year, which was praised by a number of publications.
The 7th Streamy Awards were hosted by Jon Cozart and broadcast live on Twitter on September 26, 2017, from The Beverly Hilton. It featured the first live musical performance by the Village People in over 30 years. TheWrap described the event as "rowdy, political and Jake Paul-hating" and The Hollywood Reporter said that the night's main themes were politics and diversity. The first annual Purpose Awards @ the Streamys were also held on September 25, 2017, hosted by Burnie Burns and Ashley Jenkins.
The 8th Streamy Awards were hosted by The Try Guys and was broadcast live on YouTube on October 22, 2018, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The 9th Streamy Awards was broadcast live on YouTube on December 13, 2019, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel. It was the first Streamy Award ceremony to run without a host.
In 2020, YouTube acquired the naming rights to the Streamy Awards.
The 10th Streamy Awards were broadcast on YouTube on December 12, 2020, and were hosted by drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova. To adhere to social distancing restrictions, the duo presented the awards on a party bus being driven around Los Angeles.
The 11th Streamy Awards were broadcast on YouTube on December 11, 2021. They were hosted by American YouTuber Larray, alongside Issa Twaimz, once again being driven in a party bus around Los Angeles.
The 12th Streamy Awards were held on December 4, 2022, at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles and were hosted by the YouTuber Airrack (known in real life as Eric Decker), and also featured a performance by Yung Gravy.
The 13th Streamy Awards was held on August 27, 2023, at The Beverly Hilton and was hosted by MatPat. MrBeast won Creator of the year for the fourth year in a row.
The current award categories for the Streamy Awards are separated into the main Streamy Awards and the Streamys Brand Awards.