The Emmy Awards are expanding the comedy and drama categories.

The Television Academy announced some changes on Wednesday (17.06.20), which will see the shortlists feature eight nominations in total, regardless of the number of submissions.

However, as the number of submissions for 2020 has increased across the board by 15 per cent, the Academy has also restructured how many nominees are selected for other awards.

They explained: ''The number of nominees per category will now be based on the number of submissions in each category.''

Television Academy Chairman and CEO Frank Scherma is delighted by the ''tremendous growth'' the TV industry has seen.

He said: ''The increase in submissions is a reflection of the number of new voices, new television platforms and a tremendous growth in content from existing platforms across our industry.

''Despite production suspension resulting from COVID-19, there is a wealth of excellent work submitted for this year's competition.''

The rule change means the number of nominations in a category will see those with 1-9 submissions feature a sliding scale between zero to four make the shortlist, rising to 5 for between 20-80 submissions, 6 with 81-160 submissions, and seven for 161-240 submissions. Anything over that number will see eight entries for the category.

The rule change comes a day after it was confirmed Jimmy Kimmel will return as host of the Primetime Emmys for the third time in September, having previously anchored the event in 2012 and 2016.

Although the ceremony is currently scheduled for 20 September, it is currently unclear whether it will take place in its usual form or online due to the coronavirus pandemic.