SoapNet hits ratings highs

[Snark]

Then this one should kill you:

Title:SoapNet eager to grow.

Authors:Chunovic, Louis

Source:Electronic Media; 1/28/2002, Vol. 21 Issue 4, p3, 1/2p, 1 color, 1 bw

Talk show, game show, Spanish network planned

Cable's SoapNet is bubbling with programming and multiplexing plans, including one for a Spanish-language soap-opera network that might be called TelenovelaNet.

“We think it's a natural for us,” said Deborah Blackwell, the network's general manager. The network, part of the ABC Cable Networks Group, currently features same-day repeats of the ABC daytime soap schedule, but it expects to close deals with the other broadcast networks to bring their daytime soaps to its prime time too.

“Our goal is to carry current soaps from all networks,” Ms. Blackwell said. “Our goal is to launch [at least one soap from either CBS or NBC] this fall.”

SoapNet also is looking to proliferate itself, not only with a network aimed at the growing Spanish-speaking TV audience but with a second network for its burgeoning schedule of prime-time soaps and such '80s-era prime-time hits as “Falcon Crest” and “Knots Landing.” “We'll need to go to a SoapNet 2 just to have enough prime time to run the episodes of all [the soap operas]. Maybe SoapNet 3 will be a Spanish version,” Ms. Blackwell said.

When it happens “will depend on how quickly we grow,” she said.

SoapNet also plans to increase the amount of its original programming, planning a soap-centered talk show and a soap-themed game show, a la “Soap Jeopardy.” The network's programming plans do not include launching its own continuing narrative drama.

“It will be reality,” Ms. Blackwell said. “My belief is that our viewers are hungry for the kind of information about their stars that they see on E! and &lquo;The Tonight Show.’ In our society we explore the world of celebrity pretty thoroughly, but we don't see the soap stars showing up throughout the talk show world.”

For its daytime daypart, the network also is considering acquiring English-language soaps from Great Britain and other English-speaking countries. “We're also looking at some classic soaps” on the model of the successful revival of ABC's “Ryan's Hope,” she said.

On Feb. 4, the network, which reaches 20 million homes, will launch a second feed for the West Coast. Beginning then its day-and-date-repurposed ABC soaps will air three hours earlier, starting at 4:30 p.m. on both coasts, to target the teen audience.

Launched just two years ago, SoapNet only began selling advertising this past Sept. 24. The network's audience is primarily female. Women 18-plus comprise approximately 75 percent of the viewers; men are around 16 percent; and kids 2 to 17 make up 9 percent. The median age of a prime-time viewer is around 44.

Traditional daytime advertisers are already tuned in to SoapNet's message, said Ms. Blackwell, who had projected an initial 50 percent sellout rate for the network's ad inventory. “Instead, what happened is that it took us about three weeks to get up to the 95 percent sold-out rank,” she said, “and we've been there the whole rest of the time.”

SoapNet has 121 advertisers, including national advertisers such as Pfizer; Johnson & Johnson, which is sponsoring “SoapNet's Biggest Heartbreaks,” the network's Valentine's Day love-gone-wrong marathon; and J.C. Penney, which sponsors “This Week in Soap History,” a one-minute segment on “SoapCenter,” SoapNet's original magazine show, Ms. Blackwell said.

[SFK]

I'd be lying if I said that I never fantasized about being on a SoapNet version of Jeopardy. I have a feeling the questions would be pretty lightweight (i.e., What large mammal did Erica Kane stare down on AMC?).

[MarkH]

Yes, Snark, you are right. They had big dreams.

One of my frustrations are that we do not get regular ratings from Soapnet. We hear about the successes, but just as we cannot judge a daytime show's strength on the basis of a single week (random fluctuations, folks....we need runs of weeks and months to judge the trend), so too do we need this information for Soapnet. Sara Bibel has also offered (in the past) important caveats about the reliability of ratings for small-baseline niche cable channels.

So, despite the "strength" of October (which gives me real hope...more below), I think it is clear that the original Soapnet model was NOT a success. It did not show either the numbers or the trends to suggest it was growing with the desired demographic of women. This is why original programming has disappeared (too expensive for audience delivered--Soap Center, Soap Talk, One Day With, Soapography), why flashy reality concepts from other networks have been tried (and failed!--Fashionista is gone, Relative Madness is gone, and Cameron M. says I Wanna Be... is gone), and why classic soaps have disappeared (AW, Dallas, Knots, etc) or been marginalized (I do sometimes see Ryan's Hope at 5 am).

The expansion of the Sunday Night Movie brand, and the 90210 explosion, tells us what IS bringing in adequate numbers and a good demographic. These aren't soaps...but that's because soaps don't sell.

This latest press release therefore confuses me.

On the one hand, it suggests that the STRENGTH of the network is the same-day rebroadcasts in primetime. We really haven't heard that before. I'd love to know if those numbers hold up. We'll know if they DO (more press releases!), but we won't know if they don't.

On the other hand, I think the movies and 90210 work for the network because they are cheaply acquired...so they pay their way.

In the end, I believe this network is doomed (in original concept). I have assumed that the shrinking soap audience would kill this network. I'll only change my opinion if it is shown that Soapnet continues to grow or remain stable in this primetime real estate. I'm betting it won't, but I'm hoping it will.

[Snark]

We don't have years and years of specific ratings data for Soapnet, true. But, there have been dozens of articles published in outlets like Broadcasting and Cable, TelevisionWeek, Variety, and other outlets that give us some idea of what the trajectory of the network has been.

• We know that the network was confident enough in its programming, that it registered with Nielsen after 14 months on the air.
• We know that circa 2001, it was averaging a 0.9 universe rating in prime time, which is good for a niche network. (Total day was 0.3, which suggests that even back then Soapnet's strength was prime-time.)
• We know that they attracted more advertisers than they expected, and sold more ad inventory than they expected earlier than they expected.
• We know that Michael Eisner at one point called Soapnet "the greatest thing to happen to Disney since sliced bread, and we don't make sliced bread."
• We know that Soapnet was strongly being considered for spinoff networks--and not, "Hey, maybe if this Soapnet thing takes off one day, we'll have spinoff networks"--but after the network had been on the air for five years, and had showed consistent signs of growth.
• We know it's in the top ten cable networks in its target demo.
• We know that viewer time spent watching the network is among the highest in cable.

Hopes for Soapnet weren't just high, they were justifiably high.

Then, Brian Frons takes over Soapnet, and within a year, we're hearing about how Soapnet is in the crapper because the average age of its viewers is older than Methuselah, and the only way to save the network is to put on reruns of Muppet Babies.

I exaggerate a little, but honestly, it was like whiplash going from years of glowing reports about Soapnet's continuing success to Brian Frons' "Soapnet in crisis" scenario. What happened? Was everyone prior to Frons lying about the network's success? Or did Frons decide to take the network to "the next level" by chasing the same demographic everyone is chasing, with the same types of programming everyone has? I suspect the latter. And, based on what Soapnet does and doesn't say, as well as some of the ratings news printed in Sara Bibel's blog, I suspect the plan isn't really working.

Soapnet's identity is strongly tied to soaps in general, and current soaps in particular. Frons' predecessors were real good in building the network's identity. If Soapnet is having problems, it's not because the old Soapnet was inherently flawed or unprofitable--it's because the current day soaps aren't delivering anything people want to tune in for. As head of ABC Daytime, the best thing Frons can do is make sure that the ABC soaps are strong and interesting. (I know, pipe dream--but I'm talking in theory.) That will help Soapnet more than reality shows, bad prime-time imports, celebrity shows, or stale movies--none of which made Soapnet's glowing Oct. ratings report.

As for why Soapnet had a good October, I'm guessing it was largely due to the buzz around AMC's tornado storyline. Much like Y&R's Sudden Impact, if you give soap viewers something to look forward to, they will tune in. Now if only the soaps could sustain interest after these events.

[JackPeyton]

This is why ia wlays defend soapnet. If the showing of RH, AW< etc.. had done well then they would not have beenr eplaced, and if theyw ere doing ok and ahd eben replaced and the replacements failed they would have gone back.

The format wasnt working. The daytime reruns of classic soaps were NOT bringing in what was needed.

I can deal with the oc, 90210, and oth in the day for yr, amc, oltl, gh, and days at night. I can deal witht he sunday night movie it brings in moneyt hat helps them create shows like Nighht Shift.

I dont get wahst confusing about that? The 90210 & teen shows do well in the daytime/afternoon leading up to primetime when current same day soaps are rerun on soapnet, and those do well.