Latest soap opera ratings: 11/12/2021 • Daytime Trauma

Every Soap Opera Saw Viewership Climb in This Week’s Ratings

This week every soap opera had a reason to celebrate, with all soaps up multiple categories. As always the raw data is courtesy of Soap Opera Network. Check them out. Oh and their message boards are dope.

This week has the added bonus of a new feature: Live+7-Day Season-To-Date-Estimates. Based on the data through the first six weeks of the season, I’m able to project what the Live+7-Day average is as the weeks go on. Obviously, these are just my projections but will take the average additional viewers from those first six weeks and add them to the newest data each week.

No Emergency for ‘GH’, Despite Controversy Over Anti-Vaxx Jax Firing

With last week’s announcement that Ingo Rademacher had been fired or refusing to comply with ABC/Disney Studios vaccination mandate alongside his transphobic retweet- GH proved that no publicity is bad publicity. Considering the sometimes conservative, sometimes rural, oftentimes older demographic the soap opera genre appeals to, I was expecting some backlash in the ratings. However, GH managed to not only add viewers, but the ABC soap also increased in both demographics. MyDaytimeTrauma.com is one of the few blogs that jumped the gun on Rademacher’s firing– and Steve Burton’s still unconfirmed (but-totally-going-to-happen-just-watch) departure from the show. If the ruckus over Jax helped, I can’t imagine what will happen when Jason Morgan leaves town. I mean, it couldn’t hurt more than if Burton stayed.

GH managed to pull in 2.164 million viewers, up from last week by 1% with an additional 26,000 viewers this week. Compared to last year, GH was up 3 percent. Season to date, GH is pulling in roughly 2.223 million viewers and is currently up from this point last year when it averaged 1.99 million viewers. That’s an increase of 221,000 viewers and 7 percent.

Looking back at GH’s starts the past seasons paints a positive picture for the ABC soap. Not only is GH up 11 percent from last season, but it’s also ahead of the same eight weeks of 2019 by 100,000 viewers as well. That’s a pretty sizable 5 percent improvement from its numbers before the pandemic. Even compared to three years ago during the fall of the 2018 season, GH is down by just 4 percent.

GH Has Best Performance Compared to Past Three Years

In the demographics, GH had some pleasant news as it added viewers in both categories. In women 18-49, the soap was up 3 percent from last week to average a .32, although it dropped 11 percent from last year’s .36 rating. So far this season, GH ranks third of the four soaps with a .33 rating You’ll get a look at the daily ratings for both demographics later this week. Here’s last week’s look at the daily breakdown and the leaderboard ranking each episode of the soaps.

Since the Live + 7 figures were released by Soap Opera Network, I’ve decided to do something different. I am posting the estimated season-to-date numbers for each soap opera including Live +7 day projections. I’m doing so because history has shown that the additional viewers added in that set of numbers remains pretty consistent through the season. Again these are just estimates but are pretty spot on. That being said, GH is averaging roughly 2.525 million viewers so far this season.

In women 25-54, GH got what was possibly its nicest surprise of the week. The ABC soap was up 6 percent week to week to a .55 rating, which was not only an improvement week-to-week it put GH ahead of B&B in second place. Season to date, GH is averaging a .54 rating in the demographic.

Hardest Hit By Shutdown, Y&R Has Bounced Back

Y&R was up 2 percent to 3.493 million viewers from last week and continued its year-over-year surge by increasing 9 percent. For the season to date, Y&R is averaging 3.54 million viewers, well ahead of last year. The hour-long CBS soap is looking healthy when delayed viewing estimates are included with 3.80 million viewers so far this season.

In women 25-54, Y&R was down from last week’s season-high by 6 percent and off from last year by 5 percent. Season to date, the soap is averaging a .66 rating in the demographic well ahead of its peers. In the younger demographic, Y&R had great news, while it dipped 3 percent to a .38 this week from last, the show didn’t lose any of its audience from last season in women 18-49. Y&R leads its nearest competitor in women 18-49 by .05 so far this season and is averaging a .40 rating.

Y&R may not have the devil, behinds scenes drama, or even an iconic villainess like Sheila Carter (although there’s always a chance for Kimberlin Brown to hop back over from B&B) but there’s something to be said for Y&R’s resilience. After the return from the shutdown, Y&R dipped below 3 million viewers and looked like it’d be lucky if it settled above the 3 million viewer level ever gain.

It took Y&R a full year to recover from the impact of the shutdown on its audience. And while the soap is down from the same time in 2019 when it had averaged 3.75 million viewers, let’s remind everyone that it was down 18% to 3.11 million viewers last year. The fact that Y&R was able to claw its way back to being down just 6% from two years ago is pretty commendable. Compared to the averages for the full season, the series is up 8% with 276,000 more viewers. Compared to the entire 2019-2020 season that included the inflated early-shutdown audiences of the spring and the low-rated final weeks- Y&R is down just 1 percent.

Not to mention the fact that Y&R has been unchallenged for number one in both demographics since January. Y&R has earned its title as long-running champion of daytime and has shown it will fight for its loyal audience. Imagine if they hired Victoria Rowell back as Druscilla.

B&B is The Only Soap Up From Last Year in Women 18-49

B&B had reason to celebrate as it added viewers to hit 2.972 million, up 5 percent week to week and 8 percent from last year. The soap has been incredibly consistent this season in total viewers, with the exception of one outlier, B&B has averaged between 2.9 and 2.982 million viewers so far this season. The season-to-date average is 2.925 million viewers. Although B&B adds the fewest amount of viewers to its audience percentage-wise when including Live Plus 7 numbers, the half-hour soap still manages a solid 3.11 million viewers.

In the demographics, B&B slipped in a big way in women 25-54, dropping 10 percent from last week to rank third behind GH with a .54 rating. Compared to last year the soap was down 7 percent. B&B remains comfortably ahead of GH season to date with a .58 rating. In women 18-49, B&B 6 percent week to week to a .34 rating, but did not lose second place in the category. This week was a major improvement from last year when B&B fell to a rare fourth-place finish in the demographic. B&B was up 10 percent while Y&R was flat and both GH and DAYS dropped.

Holi-DAYS Are On There Way, No Matter What The Ratings Say

DAYS was up from last week’s total-viewer performance by 4 percent to hit 1.646 million viewers. This was a drop of 6 percent from last year. So far this season the NBC soap is averaging 1.626 million viewers. DAYS was up from its season lows in both demos, up 8 percent in women 18-49 to a .25 rating and 6% in women 25-54 to a .36 rating. Compared to last year the soap opera is struggling with more than a quarter of its audience gone in both demographics. DAYS is down 26 percent in women 18-49 and 27% in women 25-54.

Last year, DAYS was second place in women 18-49 which was a surprise last year but plausible. Second place in any category is impossible for the soap now. Even third place would be nearly as difficult. In women 18-49, GH leads DAYS by 36 percent in 3rd place and B&B beats it by 44 percent. Y&R outdoes the NBC soap by 60 percent. In women 25-54 the gap is even wider with GH ahead by 46 percent, B&B leading it by 57 percent, and Y&R ahead by 78 percent.

You would think NBC would be nervous. Or at least regretted its two-year renewal of the soap opera back in April. You would be wrong. However, DAYS is performing on Peacock is good enough to have secured the first-ever DAYS Holiday movie. I’m so jealous of DAYS fans that I want to spit. Seriously, though, DAYS fans are lucky to have a network that finally sees the value in their soap opera.

Total Viewers

11/8-11/12/21	Total Viewers	% LW	% LY	Season- To-Date	Season-to- Date Live + 7 estimate
Young & The Restless	3.493	+2%	+9%	3.54	3.80
Bold & The Beautiful	2.972	+5%	+8%	2.93	3.12
General Hospital	2.164	+1%	+3%	2.22	2.52
Days of Our Lives	1.646	+4%	-6%	1.62	1.78

Women 18-49

11/8-11/12/21	Women 18-49	%L W	%LY	Season- To-Date
Young & The Restless	0.38	-3%	0%	0.4
Bold & The Beautiful	0.34	-6%	+10%	0.35
General Hospital	0.32	+3%	-11%	0.33
Days Of Our Lives	0.25	+8%	-26%	0.25

As always the raw data is courtesy of Soap Opera Network. Check them out. Oh, and their message boards are dope.

Women 25-54

	Women 24-54	% LW	% LY	Season- To-Date
Young & The Restless	0.64	-6%	-5	0.66
Bold & The Beautiful	0.54	-10%	-7	0.58
General Hospital	0.55	+6%	-8	0.54
Days Of Our Lives	0.36	+6%	-27	0.37

As always the raw data is courtesy of Soap Opera Network. Check them out. Oh and their message boards are dope.
Check out the Daily Soap Ratings January 2024: Women 18-49 and Women 25-54.