SOAPnet Sets All Time High Viewing Records in Prime-time in 2009

[JaneAusten]

I am just curious. What are the numbers for a show like L&O and House reruns that appears on USA and TNT. I just wonder how popular primetime reruns compare to the numbers on Soapnet. Are they comparable. Both TNT and USA rerun L&O and House episodes during primetime.

[All My Shadows]

TV By the Numbers is your friend.

SOAPnet's ratings don't touch L&O/House/NCIS/etc at all. Primetime cable repeats of NCIS get 3-4 million.

[alphanguy74]

I'm stunned that a repeat of NCIS beat the Kennedy Center Honors. Never underestimate the poor taste of the american viewer.

[Cheap21]

considering that SN isnt even an HD channel, the shows dont look that great on an HDTV. The quality of the soaps I watch on ABC.com look better on my 22' monitor than it does on my 32' HDTV. Big plus that ABC streams HD quality GH and soon AMC on their website, something that SN does not offer yet

[JaneAusten]

I know people talk about Knots Landing and Falcon Crest but why wouldn't Soapnet, which is supposed to be a station for women right (like Lifetime supposedly is) air a show like Sisters which was very much serialized. Maybe it's too dated or too costly for the return on the investment. That just seems like the type of programming that might fit. I know Lifetime aired reruns of the show for a while some years back.

[Cheap21]

SN used to air Sisters. It had several runs on the network before they decided to retire it and add new programing.

[JaneAusten]

See I didn't know that. Thanks.

It's nice to see AMC and OLTL get a boost on Soapnet. I'd still love to know the numbers for Y&R, Days, and GH. And I'll have to take a peak to see how Being Erica is doing.

The thing with reruns of L&O, NCIS, and House is that putting them in syndication has helped increase their popularity and ratings during their original primetime runs. I recall years back when L&O went to A&E for syndication, they were still in mid pack for PT ratings. Once the reruns caught fire, L&O PT ratings skyrocketed for a time also. I see the same thing has actually happened with NCIS once they started airing reruns on USA, although NCIS was never as low as L&O was.

[marceline]

That's actually how I found my way to House. I caught an episode on USA and fell in love.

[JaneAusten]

That's how I found my way to L&O and House also.

[quartermainefan]

I think these numbers are clear proof that the reason the soaps are falling is not due to content, but due to timeslot. There are people who want to watch these shows, just not at 2 PM. The networks refuse to accept this and would rather cancel the shows than try experiments in different hours.

[dragonflies]

Oh most definitely! I can't stand to watch any of the soaps on Soapnet, the picture quality is so bad. It looks better on the regular neworks than Soapnet, and when I watch GH & Y&R, I watch them on my HD channels and they look even worse after being used to watching them in HD

[alphanguy74]

A big part of that is because picture quality degrades as screen size increases. And it depends on if you get soapnet from cable or satellite. If your'e a stickler for picture quality, try watching the soaps on ABC OVER THE AIR. Your mouth will drop open. Believe me. A little tutorial on TV technology here...here is a list of best to worst picture quality delivery systems in descending order:

1: Blu-Ray DVD

2: Standard DVD with Component input

3: Over The Air Broadcast TV (Digital)

4: Digital HD satellite

5: Digital HD cable

6: Standard Digital Satellite

7: Standard Digital cable

8: Analog Over The Air broadcast (basically doesn't exist anymore, with only a few exceptions)

And one must also keep in mind, picture quality will vary from show to show. Soaps are shot on digital videotape, and many primetime shows are shot on film. Film will ALWAYS look better. Your digital HD stream from ABC.com would fall somewhere between 4 and 5 on the above list, which is why it looks better on your laptop than on your TV (Because of the picture size difference). But hook an antenna up to your 32", and it will blow ABC.com right out of the water.

[Chris B]

There is nowhere else to put them. I think if you combine SOAPnet ratings then the ratings for soaps are fine. They could get the daytime ratings up by promoting their shows better. They have talk shows on their own network. News shows. They could air promos. Instead of endless repeats, why not air a special primetime episode every now and then? Even if 3-4 million watch it may be a flop by primetime standards, but if thos eviewers tune into the show in daytime it could help. Problem is nobody is trying anything.

[quartermainefan]

They had nowhere to put Jay Leno--until they did. Considering the dross that airs (America's Fattest Nanny Videos and the like) there is nothing that was stopping NBC from saying to themselves "Passions had witches and fantasy, lets up the production values a little, cut it down to twice a week, and try it at night." Same for GH, you have guns and mobsters already so why not trim it to 3 days a week up the production values and see what happens at 10 pm instead of airing repeats of whatever shlock the network should be ashamed of anyway. These networks have so many affiliate networks as it is, there would be little difficulty in finding time: Every tuesday and Friday ABC FAMILY runs a couple of hours worth of AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS repeats. Did anyone watch this crap when it was first run? That could have easily been an attempt to air GL and ATWT twice a week back to back.

And I believe MAD MEN is a "hit" with far less than 3 million viewers.

[Chris B]

If you move GH or Passions or any soap to primetime hours then it'll be canceled within a year. Look at Jay Leno's ratings. I'd say he averages 4.5 million per week. If ABC moved any of their soaps to his timeslot and got that rating they'd be the laughing stock of the industry. Everyone would talk about how awful the ratings are and how it needs to be canceled, like they're doing with Leno. As a result his show probably won't make it past his two year deal.

I think if you try to improve the ratings in daytime then the shows will last longer. In primetime they'll be too heavily scrutinized and since people are so harsh on soaps no one will be sympathetic or willing to give them a chance.