Daily Soap Ratings 1/29 to 2/2/24: A daily breakdown of the demographic ratings for the three remaining soap operas: Bold And The Beautiful, General Hospital, and Young And The Restless.
Daily Ratings in Key Demographics 1/29 to 2/2/24
Here’s a look at how the daytime dramas performed in the key demographics of women ages 18 to 49 and women 25 to 54.
Viewers of daytime soap operas are of varying ages and love for the genre knows no gender. Since I’ve never been in or will be in either demographic and run a blog dedicated to soap operas, I’m living proof of that fact.
Why only women 18-49 and women 25-54?
However, television industry insiders have long held these two subsets of the overall audience are the focus to maximize profit.
Based on antiquated social trends, networks/advertisers contend that daytime viewers with value are housewives and stay-at-home moms. Women who primarily make purchasing decisions on domestic care products for the home. Women with the financial security of a well-paid spouse, of course.
Advertisers and networks still have an old-school view on gender…
Companies see daytime as their best chance at selling products, goods, and services historically aimed at women. The networks have programmed daytime television to cater to what they think women want to watch.
…but research and consumer trends support these demographic claims.
Long story short, women ages 18 to 49 and 25 to 54 are daytime television’s most desirable demographics to both broadcast networks and advertisers alike. How the soaps perform in these demographics is crucial to their profitability and future on television.
Daily Soap Ratings: Women 18-49
These are the only categories of soap opera ratings in which daily data is made available- hence, the two categories are posted as the Daily Soap Ratings. Special thanks to Soap Opera Network for making the data public every week.
Women 18-49 Daily Breakdown for the week of Monday, January 29 through Friday, February 2, 2024
| Day/ Date | Young And The Restless | Bold And The Beautiful | General Hospital |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 1/ 29 | 0.39 | 0.3 | 0.27 |
| Tue 1/ 30 | 0.31 | 0.28 | 0.22 |
| Wed 1/ 31 | 0.38 | 0.35 | 0.23 |
| Thu 2/ 1 | 0.35 | 0.3 | 0.25 |
| Fri 2/ 2 | 0.26 | 0.21 | 0.23 |
W18-49 AVG | 0.33 | 0.29 | 0.24 |
Winning again this week in the women 18-49 ratings, Young And The Restless continues its streak
Once again, Young And The Restless won out among women 18 to 49 with a 0.33 rating in the demographic.
This week, Young And The Restless was paced by the episode airing on Monday, January 29, 2024, which averaged a 0.39 in the demographic.
Monday’s episode of Young And The Restless was the CBS soap opera’s highest rating in the demographic in 2024. On the flipside, Young And The Restless had its lowest rating of the week on Friday February 2. Friday’s episode ranks as the lowest rated among women 18-49 that Young And The Restless has had this year.
Despite a strong Wednesday episode, Bold And The Beautiful dips in women 18-49
Bold And The Beautiful averaged a 0.29 rating in women 18 to 49, down from last week’s 0.30 in the demographic. The CBS soap was weighed down by Friday’s 0.21 rating- which marked a new low for 2024.
Conversely, Bold And The Beautiful tied its 2024 high in the demographic with a 0.35 rating on Wednesday, January 31. All in all Bold And The Beautiful did well enough to hold onto second place among women 18-49 once again this week.
General Hospital scores 14 percent increase, still way behind in women 18 to 49
General Hospital was once again the lowest rated among women 18 to 49 this week. However, General Hospital did climb 14 percent from last week’s 0.21 rating.
This week had a couple of other bright spots in the 18 to 49 demographic for the ABC soap opera. General Hospital hit a 0.27 rating on Monday, January 29- tying for the highest daily rating in women 18 to 49 in 2024.
General Hospital also beat Bold And The Beautiful for second place in the demographic on Friday, February 2. On that day, General Hospital pulled a 0.23 to the CBS soap’s 0.21 rating. This marks just the third day this year it has beaten the CBS soap opera in this demographic.
Women 25-54 Daily Breakdown for the week of Monday, January 29 through Friday February 2, 2024
| Day/Date | Young And The Restless | Bold And The Beautiful | General Hospital |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 1/ 29 | 0.57 | 0.46 | 0.47 |
| Tue 1/ 30 | 0.5 | 0.41 | 0.41 |
| Wed 1/ 31 | 0.55 | 0.44 | 0.43 |
| Thu 2/ 1 | 0.51 | 0.43 | 0.43 |
| Fri 2/ 2 | 0.43 | 0.33 | 0.39 |
| w25-54 AVG | 0.51 | 0.41 | 0.43 |
Daily Soap Ratings 1/29/24 – 2/2/24: Young And The Restless Steady at Number 1 in Women 25-54
Among women ages 25 to 54, Young And The Restless celebrated another win with a 0.51 rating- which was even with last week.
Just like in women 18 to 49, the hour-long CBS soap opera hit its high on Monday this week with a 0.57 rating. That day also tied for the best performance by an episode of Young And The Restless in the demographic of women 25 to 54 this year.
Young And The Restless took a tumble on Friday though, hitting a 0.43 rating- its second lowest of the year.
Up 10 percent from last week, General Hospital climbs to second in women 25 to 54.
General Hospital was able to steal second place from Bold And The Beautiful among women 18-49 this week with a 0.43 rating. The ABC soap was up by 10 percent from last week’s 0.39 rating.
General Hospital’s low came on Friday when it scored a 0.39 rating- which is impressive considering last week it only scored higher than that once. Monday’s episode, which earned a 0.47 rating marked General Hospital’s highest rated episode in the demographic so far in 2024.
Bold And The Beautiful gets dragged down by low-rated Friday.
Bold And The Beautiful had it rough in women 25 to 54 with a 0.41 rating- it’s second lowest this year. The soap dipped slightly from last week’s 0.42 rating and fell to third place as mentioned earlier.
Bold And The Beautiful usually beats General Hospital on at least three, sometimes four days out of the week in women 25 to 54. This week, it only beat the ABC soap opera on Wednesday, 0.44 to General Hospital’s 0.43 rating.
Bold And The Beautiful was weighed down by Friday’s episode where it pulled in a 0.33 rating. The episode tied for the second lowest in the demographic for the CBS soap in 2024.
Dropping Friday’s episode from the average this week would have given Bold And The Beautiful a 0.44 rating- which would have tied General Hospital’s adjusted average.
Check out this deep dive into all the 2023-24 TV season ratings data I could scrape together.
Take a look at this week’s spoilers.
Remember to watch General Hospital weekdays on ABC and weeknights on Hulu.