Article: Sun Setting On Net's Key Daytime Demos

[AntiNWO]

Mediaweek: Sun Setting On Net's Key Daytime Demos by John Consoli NOVEMBER 14, 2005

The $1.2 billion broadcast network daytime daypart is in the dumps once again this season, with ratings for women 18-34 and 18-49 down 13 percent and 12 percent, respectively, cumulatively across ABC, CBS and NBC.

The nets are already in makegood situations, and if the ratings situation does not turn around, it could cost them between $150 million and $225 million in lost ad revenue for the season.

Complicating the situation is the fact that despite still owing certain advertisers makegoods from last season’s ratings shortfalls, the networks have gone out and sold $36 million worth of the available $44 million in scatter avails for the fourth quarter. That, according to media buyers, has left CBS and NBC virtually sold out in daytime. Media buyers said ABC still had some fourth-quarter avails left.

“We have been offered no makegoods for daytime fourth quarter yet, which means the networks are having a hard time finding them,” said one media buyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Daytime ratings at this point last season were down similar percentages across the Big Three and, for the most part, never recovered. Adding to buyers’ concerns is the fact that the morning daypart—an alternative for their clients to reach more women—is also virtually sold out in fourth quarter.

Some advertisers, whose media agencies pressed the networks’ sales staffs, have been given units here and there in prime time as audience-deficiency units, or makegoods, but most have been stalled by the networks.

Ratings in broadcast have been steadily declining each season for the past decade, but some of the numbers, particularly in the women 18-34 demo, are starting to push below a 1 rating.

Crossing that threshold will force buyers to supplement broadcast buys with, or even possibly move money to, cheaper—and perhaps more efficient—cable.

Daytime syndication, also a possible alternative to reach younger women, is less attractive to buyers because it is more expensive than daytime cable and, in some cases, even more expensive than broadcast daytime.

The soap taking the hardest ratings hit among young women is NBC’s Days of Our Lives, down 19 percent to a 2.0 among women 18-34 and down 16 percent to a 1.8 among women 18-49. Days has lost 35 percent of its female 18-49 audience over the past five years.

But CBS soaps As the World Turns and Guiding Light are also down double digits among young women, as are ABC soaps All My Children and General Hospital.

The shortfall puts buyers in a quandary since broadcast daytime has been the cheapest way to reach masses of women for decades. For example, this season, according to buyer sources, the average cost per thousand for a 30-second spot in broadcast prime time for the Big Three nets is $24, while the average daytime :30 is $6. “That’s a significant difference,” said one media buyer, who did not want to speak for attribution. “And those gross rating points are hard to replace.”

The networks are working diligently to try to shore up the ratings. ABC Daytime launched a General Hospital blog last month based on the return of popular character Robin Scorpio, and it has received about 400,000 page views so far.

And during the first week in November, the show delivered its best ratings among women 18-49 since May. ABC is also planning to launch a One Life to Live blog called Split Reflections, based on a character on the show who has a split personality, while Rick Springfield next month will reprise a role he played on General Hospital.

ABC Daytime is also planning to launch a series of marketing initiatives to attract a broader scope of viewers, including new mothers, college students and Internet users.

NBC last month launched an online viewer loyalty program for Days of Our Lives, designed to increase viewing with reward incentives through Sony Corp. Viewers are given daily questions to answer for points redeemable for Sony merchandise. NBC also started a Passions Red Web site, on which viewers can find clues to a mystery woman on Passions, who will be revealed in December.

At CBS, daytime execs are planning to revive its live online soap opera talk show and recently made podcasts of Guiding Light available, with plans to make episodes of As the World Turns available as well.

Brian Frons, president of ABC Daytime, said that while not all of the ratings declines can be attributed to daytime viewers watching more cable news to stay on top of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, “our research people are telling us when the world calms down, the ratings will turn around.”

Chris Ender, CBS senior vp of communications, said CBS’ daytime ratings have also been hurt in markets hit by the hurricanes, especially New Orleans, where the network affiliates were totally shut down. In those markets, CBS has been running 60-second “catch up” spots at the beginning of each soap, trying to update viewers who may have missed past episodes.

Sheraton Kalouria, senior vp, NBC Daytime, said that since his network’s soaps draw larger percentages of college-age women, they are being hurt by Nielsen Media Research not measuring TV viewing on college campuses. “We know we get hurt the most because of that,” he said.

Both Frons and Kalouria said their networks have been working hard to diversify their soaps’ casts and story lines more to mirror the ethnicities and lives of younger viewers. “Every show is written in hopes that we can stop these declines,” Kalouria said.

Andy Donchin, executive vp/director of national broadcast for Carat, said that despite the ratings declines, he is upbeat about daytime: “During a time when there is so much fragmentation in every daypart, the fact that the broadcast networks can still draw in so many people in daytime, with all original shows each day...I see that as the glass being half full, not half empty.”

[Days4Life]

This article is over a year old--has anything improved since then? I'm just a little confused as to the relevancy of this article. DAYS has made a lot of change since November 2005.

[Adam]

I don't think DAYS has gotten any worse since last year and I am confused as to why you keep posting these articles which are sometimes over a year old?

[dawn9476]

I am so sick of all the doom and gloom posts about Soaps dying.

[DruRocks]

Me too

[mateo22]

ya, I think we should all try to stay more positive, or for the most part anyway

[Shawn]

How about not posting out of date articles that do nothing but talk about how horrible soaps are?

[jcar03]

Isn't there some rule about clogging the boards with irrelavant posts/articles. Here is a link to an article from six months ago with some updated information: http://www.medialifemagazine.com/cgi-bin/a...63&num=6853

Highlights: DAYS was up at the time the article was published was up 11% in the 18-49 demo AND was the fastest growing soap on any network.

[SteveFrame]

I personally don't like these articles either but I don't see any difference in these articles and posters outright saying other shows are terrible and even stating that some shows "have no identity and lost their soul".

One is article stating how bad one soap is or how bad all soaps are while others are comments stating the same thing.

Also the countless posts counting how terrible Lynn Latham is and how bad Y&R is and all the bashing because of the Shiela story.

So to me if one has to go then they all should have to go.

We all have different opinions what is good on soaps but to say a show has lost it's soul or is the worst thing on the air is just as bad as these articles are.

I personally don't agree with the posts that say Days is the best soap on the air, but that is just my opinion. In fact I don't even feel for the most part Days is in the top 3 shows right now. There are still Days IMO that Days is still boring - just as boring as ATWT is right now. To me Y&R is the best soap on the air right now. I feel like two shows are faltering but and I feel like several shows are trying to improve. But I don't feel like any of them are even as bad as they have been right now. As bad as ATWT is right now even it has some bright moments like today.

So even though I hate these articles I don't see them any worse than the posts made by fans of other shows about some shows - shows that many times they don't even watch.

[Adam]

Apparently as fans it is our duty to remind other fans that we are wasting our time watching a genre certain for death. I am so sick of the negativity sweeping the boards here as of late

[KLN]

My only issue is that these articles are all outdated.

Banning negativity is a ridiculous idea and it negates the entire purpose of a discussion board.

[KLN]

Besides... when it was all Days on the receiving end of negativity, there seemed to be no problem. We were all in agreement.

However, let another soap get a little dose of it and it's the end of the world. Please.

People can dish it out about other soaps but God forbid someone talk [!@#$%^&*] about their show. Why don't people just grow the hell up? Hmm? How's that for sensible?

[mateo22]

Kenny, you make me smile....

[KLN]

LoL, you make me smile, as well.

[Shawn]

I'm all for there being in depth discussions and debates about the soaps themselves, but to come to a soap board and post articles/thoughts about how watching soaps in general is pointless, I dunno. That just irks me.

We all respect the genre here, otherwise we wouldn't feel as passionately as we do about our shows/actors. It's not right to have a few come in and, in so many words/methods bash the soaps and those who are fans of them.

And for gods sake, if you ARE going to provide "proof" that soaps are bad and failing as a whole, atleast use CURRENT and VALID sources!