February Sweeps came to close as the invasion of Ukraine impacted the schedules of all four soaps

The final week of February had the potential to shake up the rankings with continued soccer-preemptions for the CBS soaps, the return of Days Of Our Lives from its two-week hiatus on NBC and a long-awaited death on ABC’s General Hospital.

However, news coverage of the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia sent the network’s daytime lineups into a chaos. All four soaps were interrupted by the breaking news which had led to CBS airing repeat episodes on

‘Young and The Restless’ has the soap’s smallest audience in 15 months

CBS saw both the network’s soaps increase in key demographics while taking losses in total viewers. The hardest hit was Young and The Restless which fell 379,000 to 3,136,000 viewers- the steepest decline of any soap week-to-week and it was the smallest audience since December 2020. Compared to last year, Y&R only lost 1 percent of its audience from.

Despite losing a tenth of its audience from week-to-week, Y&R hit a six-week high in women 25 to 54 with a 0.66 rating. This was nothing compared to the CBS soap’s impressive increase from a season-low 0.36 rating to a 0.39 rating this week. Compared to last year, Y&R was down 7 percent in women 18-49 and 10 percent in women 25-54.

Bold and The Beautiful hits season high in women 25-54, slides in viewers

Bold and The Beautiful followed a similar trend, down in viewers but up in the demographics. The half-hour soap had 2,871,000 viewers tune in for its smallest audience since Christmas. Still, B&B was up 4 percent from the previous year in total viewers.

On the flip side, B&B hit a season high 0.62 rating among women 25-54. Among younger women, B&B held steady with a 0.35 rating for the second week in a row. B&B was down from a year ago by 10 percent in both demographics.

‘General Hospital’ surges from last year, dips in demographics

Despite interruptions on every single day except for Wednesday, General Hospital lost just 1,000 viewers week to week with 2,267,000 viewers. Compared to last year, GH was up by 187,000 viewers the best of any soap this week. The new for the demographics were a completely different story.

In women 25-54, GH was down from both last week and last year’s 0.57 rating to a 0.53. In women 18-49, the ABC soap scored its second-lowest rating of 2022, falling 6 percent from last week’s 0.33 to a 0.31 rating. GH was down from last year’s 0.34 rating by 9 percent.

Days Of Our Lives returns with fewer viewers, hits high in women 25-54

NBC had reason to celebrate with the return of Days of Our Lives– even if it may not seem like it. DAYS lost 111,000 viewers in its return with its smallest audience since before Christmas, and its audience of 1,739,000 was down from both weeks of the Olympics.

Like the CBS soaps, DAYS saw movement in the opposite direction among both demographics. DAYS managed to hit a season-high in women 25-54 with a 0.43 rating- after tying the season high of a 0.42 before it went on break. The NBC soap also increased from the last week it aired in women 18-49 with 0.28 rating. DAYS was down 13 percent from last year in younger women and 9 percent in women 25-54.

Ratings for February 21-25: Total Viewers

Total Viewers	Young and the Restless	Bold and the Beautiful	General Hospital	Days of Our Lives
This Week	3,136,000	2,871,000	2,267,000	1,739,000
Last Week	3,505,000 -10%	2,941,000 -2%	2,268,000 0%	NA
Last Year	3,172,000 -1%	2,779,000 +1%	2,080,000 +9%	1,695,000 +4%

Ratings for February 21-25: Women 18-49

Women 18-49	This Week	Last Week	Last Year
Young And The Restless	0.39	0.36 +8%	0.42 -7%
Bold And The Beautiful	0.35	0.35 0%	0.39 -10%
General Hospital	0.31	0.33 -6%	0.34 -9%
Days Of Our Lives	0.28	NA	0.32 -13%

Ratings for February 21-25: Women 25-54

Women 25-54	This Week	Last Week	Last Year
Young And The Restless	0.66	0.65 +1%	0.73 -10%
Bold And The Beautiful	0.62	0.62 0%	0.69 -10%
General Hospital	0.53	0.57 -7%	0.57 -7%
Days Of Our Lives	0.43	NA	0.47 -9%