Three out of the four soaps increased in total viewers from last year’s premiere week. Only one of them managed to grow in every category. Even though it’s been just one week, it’s worth noting that compared to the just-completed 2020-2021 season, all four soaps increased in total viewers season to date. GH built on last week’s momentum in a big way, increasing week to week to hit it’s highest numbers in 17 months. Y&R continued to blast past last year while sister soap B&B was up in both demographics week to week. DAYS held up the rear but matched last week and the previous season’s average in total viewers.
Young and The Restless Tops Competition, Way ahead of LY
Young and The Restless was number one yet again in every category. In overall audience, the top soap opera on television pulled in 3.49 million viewers compared to last week’s 3.463 million viewers. The soap was up 18 percent from last year’s 2.947 million viewers when Y&R struggled to lure back viewers that moved elsewhere during the shutdown previous spring and summer. The CBS soap also distinguished as the only soap opera this week to improve over last year in both demographics. In women 18-49, Y&R pulled in a .40 rating, up 5 percent from last week (and last year’s) .38 rating. Among women 25-54, the soap remained on top with a .63, up 2 percent from last year. In the just-ended 2020-2021 season, Y&R averaged 3.264 million viewers, and just one week in, Y&R is ahead by 226,000 viewers.
B&B Down Slightly in Viewers, Up in Demos
The only soap opera to lose viewers last week was Bold and The Beautiful, which dipped just 31,000 to an audience of 2.91 million. The soap was up from last year by 10 percent when it pulled in just 2.655 million viewers. B&B was up compared to the previous week by 6 percent in women 18-49 regaining its number 2 spot from GH with a .36 rating. In women 25-54, B&B was third, although it increased from a .55 to a .57 rating. The half-hour soap opera was down 2 percent from last year in women 18-49 and 5 percent in women 25-54. The soap finished last season with an average of 2.829 million viewers and is up 81,000 through week 1 of this season. Friday’s cliffhanger ending with Sheila entering Steffy’s home seems to have given the soap a jolt in the demographics. These were two categories that B&B overperformed compared to the other soap operas over the course of last season.
GH Promo Paid Off With Biggest Numbers in April
ABC put all kinds of promo power behind General Hospital this week, and it paid off. The soap was not just up for the second consecutive week, it was also up from last year for the second week in a row. On top of that, GH pulled in higher ratings than any week since April 2020- for the second straight week. While fans may have expressed disappointment in the anticlimactic reveal to the rest of Port Charles that Sonny Corinthos was indeed alive- you couldn’t tell it from the numbers. GH’s .35 rating was up from last week’s .34, although the soap was back in third place. However, GH remained in second place in the women 25-54 demographic with a .62, just behind Y&R’s .63 rating. Compared to last year, GH was down in women 18-49 by 11 percent when it pulled in a .39 rating but matched the average for this past season. In women 25-54, GH was down just 2 percent from last year’s .63 rating and ahead of the .57 rating for the just-ended season, up 11 percent.
GH Beats The View and GMA3
The soap opera performed incredibly well compared to its lead-in, “GMA 2: What you Need To Know”. In women, 25-54 GH was up 82 percent from the news program’s .34 rating and up 59 percent in women 18-49. GH added 817,000 more viewers than its lead-in. Compared to last year, GMA3 was down 30% in women 18-49, 29% in women 25-54, and up 2 percent in total viewers. GMA3 tied for the lowest-rated show in the daytime in women 25-54 and ranked last in women 18-49. GH also topped fellow ABC series, The View, in total viewers, women 18-49 and women 25-54. The View finished last season as the highest-rated talk show on network television AND among syndicated programs beating out Live with Kelly and Ryan and Dr. Phil, among others.
DAYS Down But Streaming Keeps It From Being Out
While the other soaps seem primarily focused on how they perform on network television, Days Of Our Lives seems content at succeeding in the realm of streaming. Days matched last week’s 1.697 million viewers and equaled the just-completed 2020-21 season average. The demographic numbers were less encouraging, with the soap down 22 percent in women 18-49 to a .25 rating and 24 percent to a .37 rating. Compared to its peers, DAYS was beaten by GH by 40 percent in women 18-49 and by B&B by 46 percent in 25-54. In total viewers, GH held a 42 percent advantage over DAYS. However bad this may seem, DAYS was renewed for two seasons in April and given a 5 part limited-run series on streaming service Peacock- when numbers were worse than they are now.
Streaming Numbers Remain a Mystery
I cannot stress enough how intrigued I am to look at the streaming figures for the soaps. Peacock must be pulling in slice of the audience that far exceeds the audience that DAYS has lost over the past couple years. There really cannot be another explanation for NBC’s change of heart when it comes to DAYS over the past year. Paramount Plus is home to both CBS soaps with B&B the only soap opera with every single episode of the series available for viewing. One wonders how that plays to viewers who are accustomed to binge watching series from start to finish. GH’s performance on Hulu is something of a mystery, although the numbers are likely in line with its strong perfromance in delayed viewing. All four soaps have peace of mind this season, with B&B and DAYS renewed through 2023 and Y&R through 2024. GH has not received any formal renewal but will reach its 60th anniversary on April 1, 2023 making it unlikely that ABC will end the soap before then. GH is the longest-running scripted series on television and saw a surge in viewers during the two years that followed its 50th anniversary in 2013.
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Totally agree,R.A.
Nice interview. Thanks to both of you for being so open and sharing private personal experiences. It helps others.
Leslie is Monica. She’s also sadly missed. Whatever she decides to do, I’m positive all fans wish her the very…
I apologize for the errors- finding accurate and detailed info on soap storylines is surprisingly tricky. Thank you for the…
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Love your take & style, but proofing could use a nudge.