Dang....Wheel of Fortune with a 7.2, and Jeopardy! with a 5.8?

That's just crazy.

Dang....Wheel of Fortune with a 7.2, and Jeopardy! with a 5.8?

That's just crazy.

They get the early-prime slots (7, 7:30 in the eastern markets).

That is the time slot for soaps in many other countries...e.g., UK with its Corrie/Eastenders juggernauts.

Question: Could soaps pull Jeopary-style numbers if they had early prime?

Possible answer: Yes. Look at the primetime numbers Soapnet pulls in early-prime and prime. Those numbers (for Y&R, AMC and OLTL) are the best numbers that the cable net gets, and often amount to more than 10% of the audience that the Big Three get for comparable shows.

Translation: If a well distributed basic cable net (not Soapnet, which gets relegated to the $ digital tier for many viewers) aired first-run soaps in early prime, coupled with lots of promotion to announce it, I think the soaps could grow.

Are you listening, Lifetime?

Possible answer: Yes. Look at the primetime numbers Soapnet pulls in early-prime and prime. Those numbers (for Y&R, AMC and OLTL) are the best numbers that the cable net gets, and often amount to more than 10% of the audience that the Big Three get for comparable shows.

Do you know the numbers the soaps get each weeknight on SoapNet? I'd be interested in seeing them.

Do you know the numbers the soaps get each weeknight on SoapNet? I'd be interested in seeing them.

Yup...they just got posted...lemme see:

First this one:

Thirteen of ad-supported cable’s top 40 networks notched double-digit ratings gains in the first quarter of 2009, a period that was also marked by a few violent shifts in the other direction.

According to Nielsen ratings data for the three months ended March 29, while the first- and second-tier nets accounted for an aggregate 5.2 percent increase in nightly deliveries, a handful of networks sustained declines of 10 percent or more in prime.

The biggest average nightly audience belonged to USA Network followed by Fox News Channel, TNT and TBS. ABC Family also ranked in the top 10, up 16 percent to 1.41 million nightly viewers.

Also making great strides in Q1 09 were: Oxygen, which grew its nightly deliveries by 24 percent, averaging 444,000 viewers; Lifetime Movie Network (up 18 percent to 651,000) and SOAPnet (up 11 percent to 343,000).

Second, this one:

In a new ratings release out today, SOAPnet is reporting that 1Q09 ranks as the network's most-watched quarter ever, driven by record deliveries for ALL MY CHILDREN and THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS and near-record levels for ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

Day/Date Sales Prime (M-F, 7:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m.)

In 1Q09, powered by record deliveries for "All My Children" and a near-record performance for "One Life to Live," SOAPnet registered its largest quarterly audience on record in the key daypart in Total Viewers (455,000), and ranked second among all quarters in Women 18-49 (159,000).

Compared to 1Q08, SOAPnet jumped by 20% in Total Viewers (455,000 vs. 378,000) and by 17% in Women 18-49 (159,000 vs. 136,000).

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS (M-F, 7:00-8:00 p.m.)

Growing its audience for the third straight quarter, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS posted the show's best quarterly ratings ever on SOAPnet in Total Viewers (746,000) and Women 18-49 (254,000).

Versus year-ago levels, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS improved by a hefty 45% in Total Viewers (746,000 vs. 513,000) and by 60% in Women 18-49 (254,000 vs. 159,000).

ALL MY CHILDREN (M-F, 8:00-9:00 p.m.)

Delivering its third consecutive quarter of growth, 1Q09 qualified as ALL MY CHILDREN's most-watched quarter ever in its nine years on SOAPnet in Total Viewers (468,000), and delivered the series' third-largest Women 18-49 quarterly audience ever (162,000).

Versus year-ago levels, ALL MY CHILDREN outperformed by 37% in both Total Viewers (468,000 vs. 342,000) and Women 18-49 (162,000 vs. 118,000).

ONE LIFE TO LIVE (M-F, 9:00-10:00 p.m.)

Boasting 1Q best deliveries, ONE LIFE TO LIVE tallied the show's second largest audience on SOAPnet ever in Total Viewers (410,000), behind only 4Q08. In Women 18-49, this was the series' third most-watched quarter on record in Women 18-49 (150,000).

Year-to-Year, ONE LIFE TO LIVE jumped by 19% in Total Viewers (410,000 vs. 344,000) and by 21% in Women 18-49 (150,000 vs. 124,000).

Source: Nielsen Media Research (National Ratings, 1Q09: 12/29/08-3/29/09, Most Current; Year-Ago, 1Q07: 12/31/07-3/30/08, L + 7.

I totally agree with your points on the affiliates, they often cause a lot of damage to the network. We should not forget, it was the affiliates who started airing Guiding Light at 10am and I believe the Sacramento station dropped GL altogether in 1997?

One thing about your response to the news holding that 7-9 time period. I think in Utah (don't remember if that was the right state), they don't even air TES, instead they air their own local morning news show. I think it was the Salt Lake City station, but I could be mistake. I read that somewhere once. I don't know if other stations follow that practice as well.

I however, do not blame the affiliates for CBS' failure in the morning. They had their chance to start fresh when NBC created Today/Tonight and that seemed to be the only time period where CBS couldn't just sit back and let an audience grow. Morning show after morning show they created and canceled and created and canceled. How many did CBS have in the last 30 years? Morning, CBS Morning News, The Morning Program, CBS This Morning, This Morning, The Early Show? 6? Am I missing any?

I'm sure CBS was under a lot of pressure from the affiliates to produce a good competitor against ABC and NBC, but still I lay that fault on CBS, going back to the 1950s. ABC created GMA in 1975, and look at that, it's still doing well and for a time it was even the number 1 morning show.

From 1979 until 2009, CBS has had 6 different incarnations of a morning news program and each a failure.

I agree....CBS has just never had the success with their morning shows the way ABC and NBC have. While GMA and Today keep rolling along, CBS seems to revamp the TES show every two or three years to try to keep up. However, they always come in dead last.