March 2-6, 2009

[jimmyk311]

I think the reason behind DAYS' rating upswing and stabilization has to do with viewers not liking what going on AMC/Y&R/B&B/ATWT/OLTL in the last couple of months.

When you look at the ratings, the thing I see happening is that whenever a soap like AMC, Y&R, or B&B is up by a .1 or .2, DAYS seems to always go up by the same points or stays the same; same thing happens when the numbers goes down.

Since more and more viewers are feed up with the storytelling on today's soaps, I wouldn't be surprised more viewers are flipping all over to different channels these days; forget about the days when the viewers would stick to one network all afternoon.

Also, in some tv markets, lets not forget that DAYS also aired at the 2 pm timeslot, and since OLTL and ATWT are hitting very low numbers, it would be a sure bet that viewers went looking to watch an another soap.

If all the soap were on fire, I have no doubt that DAYS' ratings would see a shakeup.

The sad but true fact about DAYS is that it's one of a handful of soaps that is still writing the same storylines and using the same characters from six months ago. How many other soaps are doing the same thing?

[Ponz]

Toups, I'm confused about the 2.2 season average for DAYS.

9/22/08........5*.......1.9......07

9/29/08......5*...........1.9...........07......10/6/08........4*........1.9......06

10/13/08....4*............2.0..........07......10/20/08......6*........2.0......07

10/27/08....4*............2.0..........07......11/3/08........4*........2.0......07

11/10/08....6.............2.0..........07......11/17/08.......5*.......2.0......07

11/24/08....5*............2.0..........07......12/1/08........4*........2.0......07

12/8/08......4.............2.1..........07......12/15/08......4*........2.1......07

12/22/08.....4............2.1..........06......12/29/08......3.........2.3......07

1/5/09........3*...........2.1..........07.......1/12/09.......3*........2.1......07

1/19/09......3............2.2..........07.......1/26/09........4.........2.2......07

2/2/09........3*..........2.1..........07.......2/9/09..........4*........2.0......07

2/16/09......4*...........2.1.........07.......2/23/09.........3.........2.1......07

3/2/09........3............2.2.........07

How does one reach an average of 2.2 when the show only rated above 2.1 in 4 of the 24 weeks? I know we only get the rounded figures but it still seems highly implausible.

[allatwitter]

This article is 2 months old and may have already been posted but if the coveted 18-49 demo ever falls off it's pedestal how will it effect daytime?

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/...0,5034868.story

Television is starting to look beyond the 18- to 49-year-old demographic

Marketers targeted the group hoping to build brand loyalty in young people. Some in the TV industry now view that as short-sighted. CBS' and 'American Idol's' broad appeal helped change the mind-set.

By Scott Collins

January 11, 2009

The television business may be rediscovering that there are Americans who matter who aren't ages 18 to 49.

For the last 20 years, the television industry has been all about young-adult demographic groups, or "demos" in the slang of Madison Avenue, because marketers have believed that young people are most likely to develop lifelong loyalties to certain brands. Thus, whichever network attracts the most adults under 50 has been considered the winner, commanding premium rates for commercial time.

As a result, network executives have driven themselves to distraction chasing young people, struggling to find programs with appeal for viewers in their 20s and 30s. During the 1990s, for instance, executives spent enormous sums trying to find youth-oriented shows in the vein of NBC's smash sitcom "Friends." Meanwhile, people of other ages slowly drifted away to their own niche shows on cable TV or other media.

Yet there are growing signs that network TV is moving away from its relentless focus on demos -- and that could have a huge influence on future programming. There's a growing sense in the industry that the 18-to-49 category's importance to marketers may be wildly overblown. Moreover, in an age of DVRs, multichannel systems and increasingly tiny ratings, the demo obsession may itself be pushing down ratings, exacerbating the industry's problems and excluding from consideration too many programs that could have broad appeal.

This season, in fact, CBS has zoomed to first place in both mass audience and the more carved-up, youth-skewing demographics by sticking to a "big tent" strategy of such crowd-pleasing, familiar shows as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "NCIS," plus a new crime drama with broad appeal, "The Mentalist."

"Our philosophy has always been [that] limiting the world to 18-to-49 was rather short-sighted," CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said in a recent interview. "I think it's rather ironic that as of today we're in first place in every single demographic, including 18-to-49. We have always believed that a wider tent was a much smarter way to go."

The evidence extends beyond one network. The No. 1 TV series for the last four years has been Fox's "American Idol," a family-friendly talent contest that returns to the airwaves this week. And although most of network TV has continued to decline this decade, the audience for the Super Bowl, which has aired on various networks and is perhaps the ultimate group media event, has soared to record levels.

Meanwhile, a new research company called TRA Inc. has the potential to revolutionize audience measurement with a system that attempts to analyze how viewers -- including those 50 and over -- spend their money, rather than just tally what they watch. That could enable marketers to target audiences with much more precision than in the past, network executives and media buyers say, and reveal previously unrecognized purchasing habits across all age groups.

As Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at the New York-based media firm Magna, puts it, "While demos are still important, the industry needs to move beyond them." Sternberg believes the networks often forget that, even in an era of multiple television sets in each home, most prime-time TV shows are still watched by families. "TV has always been and will continue to be a group medium: About 80% of homes have only one set on during prime time."

None of this means, of course, that the 18-to-49 yardstick is about to become as obsolete as rabbit-ear antennas. Young people remain the most important early adopters of new products and cultural trends. Their purchase decisions are vital to marketers in such big categories as consumer technology, movies and cars.

This is true even though some network executives and media buyers think the notion that young people's brand loyalty must be won early is, in Moonves' words, "an old wives' tale."

The idea was that "if you bought Crest toothpaste when you were 18 years old, when you turned 50 you would still use Crest toothpaste," Moonves said.

Indeed, Sternberg and others said they knew of no reliable studies backing that theory.

Also, Moonves adds, "a 50-year-old today is different than a 50-year-old 25 years ago. The life expectancy is longer; the boomers are doing more in their 50s, they're experiencing more. It's a very different generation."

The networks have not always focused so intently on demos. Since the dawn of commercial TV in the late 1940s, Nielsen Media Research (and its predecessor entities) has measured total viewers, which remain a key snapshot of program popularity.

But starting in the 1970s, programmers began growing enamored of young adults. ABC launched the trend, developing such young-skewing shows as "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" to counter the longtime dominance of CBS among households. In a 1977 interview, ABC's then-Chairman Leonard Goldenson said the network "had to go after the younger audiences because they're the ones who are the most curious, who would seek out the new, who would flip the dials."

Then, in 1987, Nielsen introduced "people meters," which replaced the old system of viewing diaries and was thought to give marketers more detailed and reliable demographic information. As it happened, people meters also suggested a decline in total viewing for the broadcasters, which made the idea of isolating just one section of the audience -- namely, those supposedly impressionable young adults -- more appealing.

The effect on prime time was enormous. Soon after people meters were introduced, programmers moved away from such broad, family-oriented fare as "The Cosby Show" and started developing sexy shows about young urbanites, such as "Friends" and "Seinfeld." Family hits such as "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Malcolm in the Middle" became exceptions that proved the rule.

Some don't see the trend stopping any time soon.

"For the foreseeable future, the 18-to-49 demo . . . is going to be the currency that networks and advertisers are going to be working with," said Peter Liguori, chairman of entertainment at Fox Broadcasting Co.

Liguori acknowledges, however, that the science of audience measurement is changing rapidly, especially because of DVRs, which have made the process of assessing a show's performance much longer and more complicated. Days or weeks now pass before executives even know how many viewers played a program back after its initial airing.

Hoping to cut through this cloud of data are such companies as New York-based start-up TRA, led by media industry veteran and former investment banker Mark Lieberman. Using a database of 1.5 million households developed in partnership with companies such as TiVo, TRA tracks consumer behavior by matching TV viewing habits with actual purchases so marketers can focus just on those programs that have a preponderance of, say, beer drinkers or frequent travelers. CBS and Discovery have signed on as early clients, the company says.

Lieberman argues that until now marketers were merely using age data to make commercial decisions because they lacked anything better. What advertisers are "really interested in is the purchase behavior of the viewer that's watching a particular program or network," he said.

Nielsen is likewise looking at a system that would match buying habits with viewing patterns and is working with cable firms to tap information from digital set-top boxes, according to spokeswoman Anne Elliot.

Of course, in the end what the TV business needs most are hit shows, which have proved increasingly elusive the last few seasons. Focusing on broad audiences, as CBS has done, could be key. Though not nearly as popular with critics as niche series like "Lost" or "30 Rock," series such as "NCIS" and "The Mentalist" have developed huge followings of 20 million viewers a week.

As Moonves said, "The biggest hits will transcend any specific demographic group."

[Marco Dane]

Do you guys have the ratings for the Washington DC Area

[Peyton]

There really is very little difference between a 2.0 and a 2.1 in the HH ratings.

All of the bottom rung soaps(AMC, OLTL, GH, and ATWT) are in the same area or league with dips and rebounding in their ratings on various weeks. So there really is no advantage or one-upmanship on that front.

If AMC ratings remain in the 2.0-2.1 range then this will be even more incentive for Pratt and Frons to continue to showcase the Ryan/Kendall/Zach love triangle full throttle. I forsee this triangle heavily playing out and getting heavier air time than it already is. Perhaps the general audience did want to see Rendall rekindling their romance and they are eager to see this triangle.

I could never watch or root for any of it because I dislike Kendall with Ryan or Zach. But it will be interesting to see how AMC fares in the ratings the rest of March, etc..

[Melissa]

With to possibilty of TK not re-signing and Monday 3/9 being the possible last show of Zendall actually loving one another, we Zendall fans all tuned in to see it. I don't believe any of the general audience wants to see a triangle with these three characters. IMO this was all set up because RB left, and they didn't have anything in place for CM, and Ryan needed a story.

I believe the ratings may maintain some this week, but think they will take a big drop the last two weeks of the month.

I know not everyone likes Zendall or Zach, or Kendall, but I want to see them deal with their marriage one way or another together without any outside interferance. I don't need to see them everyday for that to happen, I want to be able to watch and enjoy the rest of the show when they aren't on. The balance is getting a little better, but still has a way to go.

JMO!

[SteveFrame]

Monday the 9th's high ratings had nothing to do with any character or couple on any show. The schools being out and people being home due to the Winter storm is what made all the shows go up that day and not because of Zendell. Yes some Zendell fans might have tuned in for that but they did not make the show go up that much.

We have seen over the last few weeks that these winter storms and holidays are what has been making the ratings surge. People are watching on those days because they are home and nothing else.

[MarkH]

You really might have a point. If viewers know what to expect, they may tune in regularly. Like in baseball, sometimes consistency is almost important than batting average.

[Reddi]

Agreed. Most fans do not know what's coming onscreen each day. Most fans don't go on the 'net for info or read spoilers... we're a minority. So what was on any single day is not a good indicator (though what's on over a period of time might be). The exception would be something that was heavily advertised so the general viewer knew it was coming on such and so a date.

The snow kept folks home and they watched during the day, instead of via TIVO or dvd recorder later.

[DaytimeFan]

I totally agree with JackPeyton here...DAYS has been consistent for months and it's been consistent with the exact mix Jack said: the drawn out stupidity of JER's work (which kept me hooked!) and the classic soap storylines focused on lies, obsessions and affairs that equal a consisteny streak of OK days. I also agree that the limited sets (consisting of: Hospital, Brady Pub, Titan offices, Victor's house, Stefano's house, Bo & Hope's house, Maggie's house and then a few rotating ones) and the smaller cast has actually helped the show, I totally get the community feeling. Furthermore, the focus on one A storyline, then 2 smaller ones everyday, which changes everyday, also adds to the consistency.

I'm not saying DAYS is an awesome show...but I am saying that it is entertaining and consistent.

[JackPeyton]

I agree with everything you said.

[Rob_NMGN]

Just a Question here from outside the USA.

Are the ratings that are being posted here every week just a average of all markets throughout the USA?

I am confused because I see that in some markets the numbers are much higher.

thanks,

Rob

[chyti]

Actually that was one day the rest of the week AMC lead them in numbers.

[SteveFrame]

Alright Mark - who is that in your avatar. Hot pic.

[Rhiannon]

It's Nick and Phyllis from Y&R.