Since its debut on Netflix in 2016, “The Crown” has been a favorite of awards season voters, but the show reached a new milestone on Sunday evening when Television Academy voters awarded it the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.

Bridgerton, The Handmaid’s Tale, Lovecraft Country, This Is Us, The Mandalorian, Pose, and The Boys were the other nominees.

The Television Academy voters recognized a profound shift in entertainment, from the channel-flipping days of traditional TV to the 21st-century mode of click-and-watch binge watching, with Netflix and AppleTV+ taking major awards in drama, comedy, and limited series.

The Crown delves into the British royal family’s reign. The first season, created by Peter Morgan, begins in 1947, with Queen Elizabeth II marrying Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The story then shifts to modern-day Buckingham Palace, where it follows Prince Charles and Princess Diana Spencer’s wedding. The fifth and sixth seasons wrap up the story, culminating in the Queen’s reign into the twenty-first century.

“The Crown” has been a consistently popular show among television critics. Ann Donahue lauded the show’s handling of its characters and praised the acting of its leads in her grade A IndieWire review for the show’s fourth season in November 2020.

Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin | Des Willie/Netflix

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“With the addition of Thatcher, played to gritty, galling Iron Lady perfection by Gillian Anderson, and Diana, a near-impossible role that Emma Corrin makes look effortless without descending into hagiography, ‘The Crown’ gives a riveting look at a decade that codified callous excess in the characters’ public and private lives,” Donahue wrote in her review.

The Crown’s fourth season began a new era, the Diana years, which was greatly anticipated. The ten episodes began in the late 1970s and followed Princess Diana’s (Emma Corrin) ill-fated romance with Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor).

“We’re gonna have a party now. I’m lost for words. I’m very, very grateful. Thank you,” creator Peter Morgan stated in his victory speech from a live watching party the group had in London.

In addition, The Crown dominated the acting categories. Olivia Colman won the award for best actress in a drama for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II. She was the second actress to win an Emmy for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth on The Crown, following Claire Foy in 2018.

Second, for their outstanding performances in the series, Gillian Anderson (Margaret Thatcher), Josh O’Connor (Prince Charles), and Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip) each won an Emmy.

The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards broadcast on CBS on September 19 at 8 p.m. ET. Cedric the Entertainer hosted the three-hour event, which was streamed for the first time on Paramount+.

The Queen’s Gambit, a seven-episode Netflix series about a chess prodigy, took home the award for best limited series, marking yet another first for the streaming service. With its big-budget productions often featuring A-list stars, the limited series category has become a must-see genre among viewers, and the Television Academy, which organizes the Emmys, seemed to agree: the limited series category was the night’s final award, a designation previously reserved for best drama.

Taking home the award for Outstanding Drama Series was a big win for Netflix. From 2013 to 2020, the streaming service received 30 Emmy nominations for Best Drama, Comedy, and Limited Series, according to The New York Times. However, in those categories, the platform has never received an award. At the Emmys, they frequently lost to HBO, which is a tremendous force.

Netflix had won more Emmys than HBO for the first time, with 44, compared to 19 for HBO and its streaming platform, HBO Max, at the end of the ceremony. Netflix wasn’t the only streaming service that had a successful night. Ted Lasso, the feel-good program about an aphorism-spouting, fish-out-of-water soccer coach that has struck a connection with fans, won the Emmy for outstanding comedy, a big victory for Apple TV+, which is just two years old.