All four soaps rang in the new year with solid ratings. Every soap increased or held relatively steady in category (with one expception) from last week. All four soaps even saw across the board increases in overall audience from last year- something that simply doesnt happen these days. In fact, three of the four soaps have pretty much returned to their pre-shutdown levels in total audience. The exception is ‘Days Of Our Lives’ , but since the show launched on Peacock just after the onset of the pandemic, its likely that audience simply watches via streaming. Regardless, definitely a great week for the soaps.
| Week of 1/3/22- 1/7/22 | Total Viewers | Women 18-49 | Women 25-54 |
| Young & The Restless | 3,740,000 | 0.42 | 0.68 |
| Bold & The Beautiful | 3,085,000 | 0.37 | 0.58 |
| General Hospital | 2,221,000 | 0.35 | 0.56 |
| Days Of Our Lives | 1,783,000 | 0.25 | 0.4 |
Total Viewers
| Week 1/3/22- 1/7-22 | TOTAL VIEWERS | (+/-) LAST WEEK | % LAST WEEK | (+/-) LAST YEAR | % LAST YEAR |
| Young & The Restless | 3,740,000 | 117,000 | +3% | 536,000 | +17% |
| Bold & The Beautiful | 3,085,000 | 168,000 | +5% | 404,000 | +13% |
| General Hospital | 2,221,000 | -20,000 | -1% | 138,000 | +7% |
| Days Of our Lives | 1,783,000 | -23,000 | -1% | 20,000 | +1% |
Both CBS soaps hit season highs in total viewers, with Young And The Restless pulling in more viewers than any week since April of 2020. Y&R was up 117,000 viewers, which is a solid week-to-week increase. But the real news was its 17% increase from last year. Y&R was up a massive 536,000 viewers from 2021.
Bold And The Beautiful also had great news, hitting three million viewers for the first time this season with 3.085 million viewers. For the half-hour CBS soap, that was its biggest audience since April 2020 (not counting the fluke one-episode-week during the impeachment hearings back in February). B&B was up 13% from last year, wirh 404,000 more viewers tuning in this week.
Days of Our Lives and General Hospital both dipped in viewers from last week- but not by too much. DAYS fell just 23,000 viewers from the previous week to 1.783 million viewers. This week ranked as its third best of the season. In fact, each of the last six weeks rank as the NBC soap’s six highest rated of the season. This also marked a rare occassion that the series performed better than the previous year, adding 20,000 viewers for a 1 % increase.
GH fell just 20,000 viewers from last week to 2.21 million viewers, a decline of just 1%. This was GH’s third straight week above 2.2 million viewers . Compared to last year, GH was up 7 % with 138,000 more viewers.
Women 18-49
Three out of the four soaps saw increases week to week in women 18-49.
| Week of 1/3/22- 1/7/22 | WOMEN 18-49 | % LAST WEEK | % LAST YEAR |
| Young & The Restless | 0.42 | +8% | +2% |
| Bold & The Beautiful | 0.37 | +12% | +6% |
| General Hospital | 0.35 | +13% | +6% |
| Days of Our Lives | 0.25 | –11% | –37% |
Y&R tied its season high of a .42 ratings, up from last week’s .39- a solid 7 percent jump. Y&R also posted an 2% increase from last year when it pulled in a .41 rating. So far this season, Y&R ranks first with a .39 rating, down by 2% from last year’s .41 rating. Y&R has ranked first in the demographic every week so far this season.
B&B hit a .37 rating, up .04 from last week’s .33 rating. The 12% increase helped the half-hour soap opera achieve its second highest rating among women 18-49 this season. This was the strongest week in the demographic since September. Just two weeks ago the show had fallen to fourth place behind DAYS. Since then, the soap opera has climbed by 27%. Season to date in B&B is in second place among women 18-49 with a .34 rating, just .01 behind last season.
After slipping to a .31 rating last week, GH was up 13 percent this week to a .35 rating. This was the ABC soaps second best performance this season and best since September. Compared to last year, GH was up by 6% from last season’s .33 rating. This was the first time this season that the ABC soap opera has beaten its performance year over year. Season to date, GH is just behind B&B with a .33 rating although it has falled more year to year, down 10% from a .37 rating.
DAYS fell .03 from last week’s .28 rating, a decline of 11 percent. The NBC soap had a much worse time compared to last year- it fell 38% from a .40 rating. Season to date, DAYS is down 31% from last year’s .38 rating to a .26.
Women 25-54
| This Week: 1/3/22- 1/7/22 | WOMEN 25-54 | % LAST WEEK | % LAST YEAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Young & The Restless | 0.68 | +5% | 0% |
| Bold & The Beautiful | 0.58 | +12% | –3% |
| General Hospital | 0.56 | +14% | +6% |
| Days Of Our Lives | 0.4 | – | –15% |
In women 25-54, GH performed far better than last week climbing .07 from a .49 rating to a .56 rating- up 14%. This was the ABC soap’s third best of the season and highest since September. Compared to last year, GH was up 6 percent from a .53 rating- this was only the second time this year that the ABC soap posted an increase from last season. Season to date, GH is averaging a .53 rating off by 8% from last year’s .58 rating.
On CBS, Y&R was up .01 from a .67 rating last week and ended up flat to last year with a .68 rating. This week tied its season high in the demographic. Season to date, Y&R is averaging a .65 rating easily in first place, a spot the series has not ceded since the start of the season. Y&R is down 4 percent from last year when it averaged a .68.
B&B was up to a .58 rating in the demographic, its highest since November. The soap was up from last week’s .56 in the demographic by 4% but down 3% from last year’s .60 rating. Season to date, B&B is down 10% from a .62 rating to this year’s .56 in the demographic.
DAYS managed to hold steady at a .40 rating, flat to last week. The NBC soap also spent its third straight week the .40 range. These last three weeks have been the three highest rated in women 25-54 for the season. The soap is down season-to-date to a .38 in the demographic