Daily Soap Opera Ratings: 10/22 & 10/29

Every week I’ll be taking a look at the data behind the latest soap opera ratings. Each post examines the performance of each soap opera that week in a variety of categories.

The first post takes a look at total viewers and the overall audience of the soaps as well the season to date performance of each series. Click on the dates so you can check out the total viewers for the week of 10/22 and 10/29.

The second ratings post each week will focus on the key demographics of women ages 18-49 and 25-54, which the networks/advertisers view as the most valuable viewers in daytime television. Check out last week’s here.

The other posts will vary: sometimes its a deep dive into a past season, sometimes its a look at how the shows have performed over time and others may focus on a specific timeframe for a specific show.

Unless otherwise noted, I get all of my raw ratings data from Soap Opera Network, one of the best soap opera resources on the internet. Soap Opera Network recently marked its 20th anniversary. If you haven’t already, check them out!

Weekly Women 18-49 & 25-54 Averages: 10/22/2021

Week of 10/18-10/22/21	Women 18-49	%LW	%LY	Women 25-54	%LW	%LY
Young & The Restless	0.40	+3%	-9%	0.65	0%	-14%
Bold & The Beautiful	0.32	0%	-14%	0.55	+2%	-19%
General Hospital	0.29	-6%	-17%	0.48	-11%	-17%
Days of Our Lives	0.25	0%	-26%	0.36	0%	-27%

Y&R was first once again

First, Young and The Restless held the top spot in both categories for the week ending 10/22/21. Y&R held the top four in women 18-49 and top 5 in women 25-54. As a result, CBS held 10 of the top 11 episodes in the older demographic. Both CBS soaps were either flat or up from last was down the least from last year. In second place, B&B managed to make twith its Friday episode in women 18-49 and matched last week’s numbers . This allowed B&B a comfortable lead over General Hospital, which was hit hard by weak performances on Tuesday and Friday causing its numbers to suffer.

DAYS steady, strong on Monday

Lastly, Days Of Our Lives had another tepid week, except for its Monday performance in women 18-49. The NBC soap opera ranked second because of that day’s episode, which ranked 6th for the week. Thanks to that, the soap from losing any of its demographic audience week-to-week. While it held steady from last week, it lost more than a quarter of its audience in both demographics from last year.

Women 18-49 & 25-54 Ranking

---

Weekly Women 18-49 & 25-54 Averages: 10/29/2021

Week of 10/25-10/29/21	Women 18-49	%LW	%LY	Women 25-54	%LW	%LY
Young & The Restless	0.38	-5%	-9%	0.64	-2%	-11%
Bold & The Beautiful	0.34	+3%	0	0.59	+7%	-6%
General Hospital	0.33	+13%	-6%	0.54	+13%	-5%
Days of Our Lives	0.27	+8%	-18%	0.37	+3%	-21%

B&B has a great week, closes gap with Y&R in ratings

Now for the week of 10/29: Y&R was first place once again. However, Y&R was the only soap to drop week-to-week. In both demos, Y&R held the top 2 spots, and 3 of the top 5. Every Y&R episode made the top 10. The soap most fell because its highest rated episode averaged a .45 versus a .49 last week- that alone cost the soap.

In second place, B&B improved in both categories and closed the gap with Y&R by 50%. Last week the difference between the soaps was .08, and this week it was .04. Also of note, no episode of B&B averaged higher than a .35 the week of 10/22 while two days pulled in a .36 and Monday’s hit a .40- pretty impressive week to week gains right there.

The show was also the only one not to lose viewers from last year in the category. The good news continued in women 25-54. During the week of 10/22 B&B had its highest rated episode pull in a .57 rating, this week one episode matched that number and the top three had a .60 or higher. This was impressive considering Y&R dipped this week. The CBS soap was down just 6 percent compared to last year- way better than its 19 percent drop the week before.

GH ratings way up from last week, DAYS still last among soap operas

GH was up 13 percent in both categories week-to-week, and only dipped 6 percent in women 18-49 and 5 percent in women 25-54 compared to last year. GH had a very consistent week in both demos. The highest rated episode in women 18-49 was a tie between Monday and Friday with a .34 and not a single episode fell below a .31 rating. Last week in women 25-54 the highest rated episode was at a .56 and every other one ranked between a .51 down to a .42. This week GH’s lowest rated episode was at a .50, three episodes tied with a .54 and the high was at a .58.

DAYS held last place but did improve from the previous week in both categories. While the week of 10/22 did have that surprise 6th place ranked Monday episode, this week’s high ranked 12th. In women 25-54, the soap made gains but still had the 5 lowest rated episodes in the demographic.

Women 18-49 & 25-54 Ranking

Come back later this week for the latest soap opera ratings, news and all the other dope on soaps.