In 1968, the Emmy Awards had created a category called Outstanding Achievement in Daytime Programming, to honor daytime shows that were overlooked during the primetime ceremony. However, the judges rewarded no one that year, concluding that none of the nominees deserved the award. Daytime television programming remained overlooked until the 1972 ceremony, when The Doctors were honored with the very first Best Show Daytime Emmy.

In 1974, the first Emmy awards ceremony held exclusively for daytime television programming was hosted by Barbara Walters and Peter Marshall in the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center in New York. More recently, the ceremony has taken place at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, or Los Angeles' Orpheum Theater. Glamorous trophies were handed out to winners, just like corporate crystal awards are given out in not as glamorous industries as advertising or finance. Until 1991, the Daytime Emmy Awards were broadcast during the day. That year, and every year since, the Daytime Emmys have been televised during primetime hours instead, in pursuit of higher ratings. However, ratings have decreased in more recent years, inciting producers to reduce the length of the televised ceremony to two hours, rather than the three hours they had utilized in the past. In part, the ratings decrease can be blamed on the show's move to broadcast on Friday, one of television's least viewed nights. However, there is also the problem of the limited pool of talent to draw from when it comes to daytime television, which leads to many of the name stars being nominated and winning year after year, eliminating much of the element of suspense and surprise viewers look forward to in awards shows.

In efforts to boost ratings, special events have aired in the days preceding the televised ceremony in order to draw more viewers. SoapNet dedicates Emmys-centered special programming during the month of the awards, televises a red carpet special leading up the the big hour, and broadcasts a post-show immediately after the awards. In the past, NBC has aired special episodes of its own own soap operas as a promotional effort in the years that its station televised the awards. CBS has even presented specials of The Price is Right to drive more viewers to the station on awards night in the years that its station has broadcast the ceremony.

In 2009, because none of the Big Three networks (CBS, ABC, and NBC) that had rotated the show's broadcast among themselves in previous years would agree to host the failing awards show - which had achieved its lowest ratings thus far during the previous year's broadcast - the Daytime Emmys were moved to broadcast on the CW, a television network with no daytime programming itself. The CW had been chosen against some cable networks that were even in the running to take over broadcasting for that summer. That year, the awards show ratings were lower than ever - but the CW network actually increased its own average ratings for that night compared to the same night during previous summers. In 2010, the awards show returned to CBS, airing from Las Vegas for the first time in the award show's history.