April 28 - May 2, 2008

[Toups]

If you're going to copy/paste, please link. Thank you.

Numbers are based on Live+Same Day ratings

Ratings for the week April 28 - May 2, 2008

(Compared to Last Week/Compared to Last Year)

Total Viewers

1. Y&R 5,305,000 (-28,000/-99,000)

2. B&B 3,977,000 (+197,000/+238,000)

3. ATWT 2,949,000 (+33,000/+105,000)

4. GH 2,896,000 (-132,000/-642,000)

5. DAYS 2,699,000 (-185,000/+183,000)

6. OLTL 2,590,000 (-71,000/-486,000)

7. AMC 2,468,000 (+2,000/-562,000)

8. GL 2,352,000 (-22,000/-212,000)

HH

1. Y&R 3.8/14 (same/-.3) <---- ties low rating

2. B&B 2.9/10 (+.2/same)

3. GH 2.2/7 (-.1/-.5)

4. DAYS 2.1/7 (same/+.2)

4. ATWT 2.1/7 (same/-.1)

6. AMC 2.0/7 (same/-.4)

6. OLTL 2.0/7 (-.1/-.4)

8. GL 1.7/6 (same/-.3) <------ ties low rating

Women 18-49 Viewers

1. Y&R 1,181,000 (+85,000/-16,000)

2. GH 986,000 (-103,000/-194,000)

3. B&B 910,000 (+118,000/+27,000)

4. OLTL 878,000 (-52,000/-103,000)

5. DAYS 868,000 (-89,000/+33,000)

6. ATWT 792,000 (+87,000/+30,000)

7. AMC 708,000 (-40,000/-210,000)

8. GL 686,000 (+14,000/-34,000)

Women 18-49 Rating

1. Y&R 1.8/13 (+.1/same)

2. GH 1.5/9 (-.2/-.3)

3. B&B 1.4/9 (+.2/+.1)

4. DAYS 1.3/9 (-.2/same)

4. OLTL 1.3/9 (-.1/-.2)

6. ATWT 1.2/8 (+.1/same)

7. AMC 1.1/7 (same/-.3)

8. GL 1.0/7 (same/-.1)

Girls 12-17 Viewers

1. ATWT 53,000 (+18,000/+17,000)

2. Y&R 45,000 (+19,000/+13,000)

3. B&B 35,000 (+7,000/+4,000)

3. GH 35,000 (+3,000/-28,000)

5. GL 27,000 (+7,000/+4,000)

6. OLTL 25,000 (-8,000/-1,000)

7. DAYS 23,000 (-12,000/-7,000)

8. AMC 16,000 (-4,000/-13,000)

Women 18-34 Rating

1. DAYS 1.0/7 (-.1/-.1)

1. Y&R 1.0/7 (+.1/-.1)

1. GH 1.0/7 (-.1/-.3)

4. OLTL 0.9/6 (Same/same)

5. B&B 0.8/5 (+.2/same)

6. AMC 0.7/5 (same/-.2)

7. ATWT 0.6/4 (+.1/-.1)

8. GL 0.5/3 (same/-.2)

Men 18+ Viewers

1. Y&R 1,321,000 (-3,000/+104,000)

2. B&B 943,000 (+74,000/+151,000)

3. ATWT 682,000 (+53,000/+139,000)

4. DAYS 597,000 (-11,000/+107,000)

5. GH 541,000 (-18,000/-92,000)

6. GL 534,000 (+49,000/+51,000)

7. AMC 519,000 (+46,000/-69,000)

8. OLTL 471,000 (-8,000/-85,000)

-------------------------------------

Day-To-Day HH Ratings - HH/Total Viewers

AMC

Monday: 2.1/2,696,000

Tuesday: 2.1/2,607,000

Wednesday: 1.9/2,421,000

Thursday: 1.8/2,202,000

Friday: 1.9/2,412,000

ATWT

Monday: 2.4/3,456,000

Tuesday: 2.2/3,131,000

Wednesday: 2.0/2,807,000

Thursday: 1.9/2,632,000

Friday: 2.0/2,721,000

B&B

Monday: 3.2/4,501,000

Tuesday: 3.0/4,151,000

Wednesday: 2.8/3,814,000

Thursday: 2.6/3,768,000

Friday: 2.6/3,652,000

DAYS

Monday: 2.2/2,963,000

Tuesday: 2.2/2,867,000

Wednesday: 2.0/2,572,000

Thursday: 2.1/2,683,000

Friday: 1.8/2,410,000

GH

Monday: 2.4/3,113,000

Tuesday: 2.2/2,872,000

Wednesday: 2.2/2,955,000

Thursday: 2.1/2,723,000

Friday: 2.1/2,817,000

GL

Monday: 1.9/2,499,000

Tuesday: 1.8/2,439,000

Wednesday: 1.8/2,426,000

Thursday: 1.5/2,080,000

Friday: 1.7/2,314,000

OLTL

Monday: 2.3/2,890,000

Tuesday: 2.1/2,646,000

Wednesday: 2.1/2,700,000

Thursday: 1.8/2,277,000

Friday: 1.9/2,437,000

Y&R

Monday: 4.3/5,989,000

Tuesday: 3.9/5,507,000

Wednesday: 3.8/5,225,000

Thursday: 3.6/4,998,000

Friday: 3.4/4,805,000

----------------------

For the SEASON September 24, 2007 through May 4, 2008

HH

1. Y&R 4.1

2. B&B 2.9

3. GH 2.4

4. ATWT 2.3

5. OLTL 2.1

5. AMC 2.1

5. DAYS 2.1

8. GL 1.9

Women 18-49 Rating

1. Y&R 1.9

2. GH 1.7

3. DAYS 1.5

4. OLTL 1.4

4. B&B 1.4

6. ATWT 1.3

6. AMC 1.3

8. GL 1.2

[DevotedToAMC]

I hope AMC rises!

[jimmyk311]

Most of the syndication shows are mostly up last week so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the soap numbers stay the same or go up slightly during the first week of May sweeps ‘08.

It good to see someone wanted an ABC soap rating up since it might help DAYS ratings in the long run.

What do y’all think? I know so many people want ABC soap ratings to crash and burn but hoping for that will hurt DAYS and CBS soap numbers in the process since share numbers played a huge factor in the household numbers.

[MarkH]

Hi...I posted my questions below at the end of last week's Ratings thread, but Toups suggested I should repost them here. These go beyond "what happened to such and such show this week"...so I realize there may not be a ton of interest in this. But I've been wondering if my own week-by-week following of the ratings is missing the point about what is REALLY happening to viewership.

[Cat]

Great post btw, MarkH.

In answer to your question: why? Because TIIC, Frons, Guza, Bell, Sony etc are essentially controlling the way we debate soaps and their inept mis-management of the genre.

They know that viewership is down across the board. That their precious "millenials" demographic is far beyond their grasp and taking charge of their own entertainment. But when TIIC make bone-headed decision after bone-headed decision, they justify it along the lines of "We're trying to attract the kids."

"We don't want to be the soap that only nursing-home residents watch."

Or "We did this to bring the ratings up."

"We want to bring our old viewers back. Yeah, the ones who abandoned us in our time of NEED."

And, of course, we respond to that. They want to get a reaction out of us.

OK. The number of posts I have read on many boards, including this one, debating Brian Frons's attempt to turn SoapNet from a niche network specializing in serial drama into a low-rent E! There was some criticism but also some defense of his move. Oh, well. He's only trying to be practical. He's got to grab the ratings where he can. Or even: Frons is a genius! This is the future for soap programming (I kid you not. I read that on SON).

The fact is, Frons changed SoapNet not to save the network but for himself. He doesn't want to be seen by Disney as the exec who does "those soaps" for the rest of his career. He wants to move on up. Maybe get into running the lucrative and and ratings-friendly Primetime division. Maybe even get onto the tweenie-demo Disney Channel. Or the movies! His recent comment about all soaps being animated in 20 years time was NO accident.

If he can show he can run a generic network (as opposed to just three shows sandwiched between the local lunchtime news and Oprah), then this is good for his promotion chances.

TIIC want to make us stressed out about the low ratings and the threat of widespread soap cancellation. In some cases, this is a very real threat (GL? Days?). But sometimes it is just an excuse to crack the whip over their audience. To get their stable core viewership to keep watching out of brand loyalty. To "train" us into liking whatever dreck they throw up on screen. Dreck that has mostly been dictated by external events. Like Maurice Bernard's alleged contract for +$1 million a year. That's an investment. Gotta work that investment! Put the old workhouse front-and-center. Even if the audience is getting tired of the same-old, same-old.

OK, I just re-read all this and I don't know if that makes any sense... It did in my brain but, you know, it's still early.

[Soapfan1]

I hope DAYS Will rise

[sacha]

b&b 3.0 I hope

[JackPeyton]

i disagree. i mean i do agree that overall ratings are down because of the times and culture we now love in, but at the same time i do think if soaps were good, and ahead of the game like they once were ratings would be up. and by up i eman from where we are now, where we were in the 70's and 80's.

what we are seeing on the screen does have a lot to do witht he ratings. because there are soap fans who would watch these shows if they were good.

[JackPeyton]

again i disagree, and not to defend frons here ebcause i ahte him but....

soapnet was/is failing as a network. it his job to make sure that network does well. so in changing soapnet for himself i guess thats true in terms of him doing his job. AW's ratings were so bad it had to be pulled. i loved the reruns and was so mad when it was puleld, but it was smart to pulla show that puleld in .2 ratings or whatever it got. one tree hill and 90210 do pull in a bigger audiance, the bigger the audiance the more money soapnet can make off ad time and the more money they made the better it is for the soaps they do air like amc, oltl, gh, days, and yr.

i also do not think that the netwokrs are trying to kill the soaps. truth be todl if theyw anted them dead they would be, IMHO.

[MoTheGreat]

I hope AMC goes up.

[Cat]

True. Except for NBC and that stupid network exec.

As for Frons, I'll give credit where its due. He's been a soap man for a long time. Presided over NBC at its height with Days, AW and Santa Barbara. In fact, he even commissioned SB. For that, he gets major kudos. Plus he took over at ABC when, say, the mobularization of GH was already well underway. He lets ABC shows stay up on YouTube because he figures the more people watching, the better. And I don't think he is nearly as intrusive when it comes to SLs are people think.

However, he's come up with a lot of bullsh!t in order to prop up the myth that viewers are going to return in droves. Watch you soap on your itsy bitsy cell phone! Watch poorly-produced rip-offs of your favorite Primetime show (like Grey's Anatomy)! He must know that this is not going to bring in the ratings.

As for SoapNet, why not keep it a niche and cult network? I don't think shows like AW and Dynasty were promoted enough. Plus people already have E! and Fashion TV and Living for their fashion gossp and TV movies. A One Tree Hill repeat or even that tosh Nightshift ain't gonna bring in the Nip/Tuck or Monk-sized cable audience.

[SoapQueen89]

Personally I think there are many factors that go into rising or falling ratings as the case may be. Sure social and economical factors go into it, but I think ultimately it's the writers and what they write that draw you in or turn fans out in droves. Fans aren't enticed enough to DVR or TIVO the show and if they are, they don't watch most of the show and the FF button gets a work out.

Times have changed, more women have gone back to work, reality TV has taken over the networks, and of course the Internet has grown over the past 10-15 years. It's no surprise that people are now watching their soaps on line or have tuned out due to 'real life' situations. But the shows are not putting forth a good show to keep the viewers they already have, let alone enticing new viewers to watch.

The networks have lost touch with who is actually watching their shows. If they want to entice young viewers, then fine, but you have to keep the viewers you already do have happy to keep them. Viewers who have been watching the show for 20 years or more. They can't seem to do both, it's one or the other, and unfortunately the younger audience is what they seem to think they need to focus on. It's sad really that fans are tuning out because the storylines suck, too much violence, and not enough of 'old days' - ie family, adventure, intrigue, romance, character growth, integration of cast, show history being used ....etc.

The shows cannot please everyone, but they need to produce a good show with balance and consistency, and good stories. That falls on the writers and producers of the show.

IMO

[Jess]

Ol Fronsie isn't doing too great a job if he is trying to promote himself. All of his soaps are in the trash heap and if not for the fact they were already on the bottom, they would be heading south. Soapnet isn't any good either and seems to be heading south. ABC might want to keep him away from primetime, ESPN, the family network -- well all its properties.

[SoapQueen89]

I don't know whose idea it was to take SOAPnet to Hollywood to compete with E! Network, but SOAPnet is for soaps.... not celebrity gossip. I would venture a guess and say it was another one of Frons' brilliant ideas. SOAPnet used to have soaps on 24/7, now it's reality TV, original programming and hollywood trash. Yeah so don't want to watch that.

[JackPeyton]

the other things with young viewers is this... have young people not watched soaps as long as soaps have been on? im sure a good chunk of us watched as we grew up ith grandma or whatnot. i personally tuend into Y&R when i was 14 because of people like nikki, paul, brad, victor, jack, phyliss, lauren, kay, etc... yeah i liekd the kids but i didnt care too much about them.

also it still shcosk me to look backa nd see how ahead of the times soaps were. now its like the went a decade back.