Latest Soap Opera Ratings Week of September 17, 2021: Wedding Bliss For GH’s Ratings, Demo Miss for CBS
Final Week of 2020-2021 Televison Season Averages Included!
This week marks the final week of the traditional television season which was any but traditional for the broadcast television Networks. All four soap operas were impacted by various factors coming into the season. Days of our Lives was the only soap to air new episodes through the pandemic and resulting shutdown due to its unique production schedule. Both CBS soaps left viewers with reruns beginning in April, while General Hospital followed suit in May.
| Ratings | Young And The Restless |
| Viewers | 3.463 |
| W18-49 | .38 |
| W25-54 | .61 |
Bold and The Beautiful returned with new episodes on July 20th, followed by GH on 8/3 and Young and The Restless the following week. DAYS also saw the nationwide launch of the NBC streaming service called Peacock in July which may have shifted a good number of viewers permanently away from traditional television, as many other streaming services had the same in pact in recent years.
Y&R Finishes in First In Total Viewers For the 34th Season In a Row
Young and the Restless had a solid week in total viewers, increasing to 3.463 million viewers from last week’s 3.412 million. The soap opera increased by 484,000 from last year when it pulled 2.979 million last year. Young and The Restless finished the season firmly in first place in all three categories with 3.264 million viewers overall, a decline of 9 percent from the previous year when it averaged 3.575 million. While the soap did decline from last season, it has shown an incredible amount of resilience, especially in the summer months.
In the demographics, Y&R had a rough week but still hung onto to number one. The series pulled in .37 in women 18-49, down 8% from last week’s .40 and .61 in women 25-54, down 6 percent. This was the lowest in both categories since December of last year. Y&R ended the season with an average of .43 in women 18-49 (down 12%) and .70 in women 25-54.
B&B Has a Down Week, Finishes Season Better Than It Started
B&B had a five-week run of over 3 million viewers broken last week, and the soap dipped again to 2.941 million viewers. This was just an 18,000 viewer decline and still above the season average. B&B was up 320,000 viewers from the same week last year. In women 18-49, B&B dropped to a .32, down 3 percent from last week’s .33, tying for the lowest rating in the demographic since November. The half-hour CBS soap dropped to a .55 in women 25-54, the lowest since April. B&B dropped to third in both measures behind General Hospital.
| Ratings | Bold and the Beautiful |
| Viewers | 2.941 |
| W18-49 | .32 |
| W25-54 | .55 |
B&B finished the season with 2.829 million viewers down just 7% from the previous season. In the demographics, B&B ended the season with a .38 in women 18-49, down just 7 percent. In women 25-54, the soap held second place for the season with a .64 rating.
General Hospital Bounces Back To Hit Season High In Viewers as Jason and Carly Wed and Sonny Returns
| Ratings | General Hospital | |
| Viewers | 2.389 | |
| W18-49 | .34 | |
| W25-54 | .56 |
This past week saw the climactic return of Sonny’s memories as well as the longest wedding day in soap opera history as Carly and Jason walked down the aisle. The heavily promoted episodes paid off for ABC, with the soap adding 438,000 viewers this week for a season-high of 2.389 million viewers. General Hospital hit an 11 month low the week before, due to the inclusion of a Labor Day repeat in the averages. However, even without the low-rated Monday episode, the demographic numbers indicate that it would still be among the lowest-rated on the season. Compared to the 1.95 million who tuned last week, the ABC soap was up 23 percent week-to-week. This was the highest-rated episode of General Hospital since April of 2020.
GH Holds Onto More Viewers VS Last Year Than Peers
Compared to the same week last year, GH was up 18% from the 2.027 million viewers, a substantial increase of 362,000 more viewers. The soap increased in both demographics as well, pulling in a .34 in women 18-49, up 31% from the .26 it had a week earlier. In women 25-54, the soap shot up 24% to a .56 rating. The ABC soap moved ahead of B&B in both demographics to rank 2nd out of the four soaps.
For the 2020-2021 season, GH pulled in 2.12 million viewers on average down just 2.5 percent from last year. The 55,000 viewer decline is the smallest decline of all four soaps and is also a minor decline from the previous season- also smaller than its peers have seen. The drop in demographics was much steeper with GH dropping 17% in women 25-54 to average a .57 rating and 21% in women 18-49 for a .35.
Bedeviled- DAYS, Unbothered As Buzz Builds Streaming Audience Over Broadcast
Days of our Lives, coming off the buzz of its Beyond Salem 5-part event saw its numbers decline below 1.7 million last week for the first time since July. This week the soap jumped into the demonic possession of Marlena on Friday. The episode revealed that the Alzheimer’s diagnosis that Doug had apparently been struggling with was in fact demonic in nature. As somebody who doesn’t watch DAYS, but plans to start, the last five minutes of Friday’s episode were earthshaking.
This week the soap pulled in 1.697 million viewers, exactly matching the season averag with the soap was adding 58,000 viewers week to week. In both women 18-49 and 25-54, DAYS saw declines from the previous week dropping 5 percent in women 25-54 to a .38 and 7 percent decline to a .25 in women 18-49.
| Ratings | Days of Our Lives |
| Viewers | 1.697 |
| W18-49 | .25 |
| W25-54 | .38 |
For the season Days ranks 4th in every category but has already been renewed through 2023. The soap has seen NBC throw renewed support and promotion despite it being near record lows- almost entirely due to its performance on the Peacock Streaming service. In total viewers, the soap pulled in 1.697 million for the 2020-2021 season, down 11% from the 1.911 million viewers who tuned in last year. DAYS managed just a .30 in women 18-49 down 17% from the .39 rating last year and was down more than 20% percent in women 25-54 to a .44 rating.