May 10-14, 2010

[Carolyn1980]

Based on ABC's press release:

Women 18-49 Rating:

1. Y&R 1.8

2. GH 1.4

3. OLTL 1.1

4. AMC 1.0

4. B&B 1.0

6. DAYS 0.9

Women 18-49 Viewers

1. Y&R 1,200,000

2. GH 924,000

3. OLTL 724,000

4. AMC 651,000

5. B&B

6. DAYS 625,000

Fringe Ratings Report: ABC Daytime Programming - Week of May 10, 2010

ABC is Daytime's No. 1 Network Across All Key Women Demos

Hitting an 11-Week High in Women 18-34, "General Hospital" Stands as the Week's No. 1 Program in Daytime for the 2nd Straight Week in the Core Demo

"All My Children" Posts the Show's Best Ratings in

More Than 2 Months in All Target Women

ABC Delivers 3 of Daytime's Top 4 Programs

in Women 18-49 and Women 25-54

ABC Daytime

* ABC ranked as the week's No. 1 network in Daytime with Women 18-34 (0.8 rating/274,000 - tie), Women 18-49 (1.2 rating/784,000) and Women 25-54 (1.5 rating/955,000).

* For the 2nd consecutive week, "General Hospital" ranked as Daytime's No. 1 program in Women 18-34 (1.0 rating/324,000 - tie), posting its best numbers in nearly 3 months - since week of 2/22/10.

* "All My Children" hit a 9-week high in Women 18-34 (0.7 rating/251,000 - tie), Women 18-49 (1.0 rating/651,000 - tie) and Women 25-54 (1.3 rating/845,000 - tie) - since week of 3/8/10.

* In Women 18-49, "General Hospital" (No. 2 - 1.4 rating/924,000), "The View" (No. 3 - 1.3 rating/836,000) and "One Life to Live" (No. 4T - 1.1 rating/724,000) placed among Daytime's Top 4 programs.

* In Women 25-54, "General Hospital" (No. 2 - 1.7 rating/1.1 million), "The View" (No. 3 - 1.6 rating/1.0 million) and "One Life to Live" (No. 4T - 1.4 rating/886,000) ranked among Daytime's Top 4 programs.

Following are the Daytime Lineup averages, plus Top 5 Programs Ranks - Week of May 10, 2010:

Daytime Rank: Total Viewers Women 18-49 (Rtg/000s)

No. 1 CBS 3.55 million No. 1 ABC 1.2/784,000

No. 2 ABC 2.81 million No. 2 CBS 1.1/717,000

No. 3 NBC 2.44 million No. 3 NBC 0.9/625,000

Top 5 Daytime Programs in Women 18-49 (rank based on rating)

Program Net Rtg/000s

The Young & the Restless CBS 1.8/1.20 million

General Hospital ABC 1.4/924,000

The View ABC 1.3/836,000

One Life to Live ABC 1.1/724,000

Price is Right CBS 1.1/702,000

[OLTL_fan]

I hope OLTL did better than just a 1.7 in HHs. So tired of seeing ties low rating.

I havent watched DAYS in weeks. Been busy with school.

[OLTL_fan]

Good to see GH up in women demo while last week was pretty boring. Too much focus on Michael. OLTL is exactly the same in women. Thats not bad. It still beats AMC in that demo.

[NYC123]

Finally glad to see some decent numbers for ABC

[Jane1978]

I don´t think DAYS will be fine. I belive the miniscule budget and ultraspeed way of taping is starting to catch with them. This crazy Hope story certainly isn´t bad and could be huge attention grabber, but the way it´s produced kills most of the suspension. During JER/Langan days they would boost it with some dramatic music and editing, made each of the mugging more original and didn´t have the same he is severely insured/he will be fine hospital scene after every attack. I´m probably one of the few who still likes most of the stories but even I´m getting tired with seeing the same multipurpose hotel room and hearing the same elevator music on background all the time. The Anna/Calliope scenes last week were absolutely terrible. And honestly, if I didn´t know from spoilers Anna will be poisoned on Friday I would have no idea what just happened because all they shown was Anna coughing and Rafe looking weird. Exactly the same stories and plot points could be told so much better with litle more money and time.

[beachbum]

way to go GH!!

[beachbum]

Never been a Days fan but what is happening with that show. It hit number 2 a while ago and are falling hard since then. They should hire a Claire Labine over there

[PhoenixRising05]

Those very same people were leading the show last year and it was a ratings success.

The show just went into a lull. The ratings for all soaps are bad. Even GH's recent surge has been nothing to write home about, hardly like the Days surge we saw last year.

I think less people are watching TV or not watching live or right away, plain and simple. The primetime mumbers have only recently began to rebound for many shows but that is because of season finales. I'm not excusing what is onscreen but I think the soaps would be down, especially Days, even if they were delivering on all cylinders. This time of year through August is usually when things go bad for soaps overall, especially if you have a soap like Days that skews younger.

[Saving ATWT]

I was guessing that ATWT would go all out for May sweeps and include the returns of former cast members like Will, Gwen, Iris, Sierra and get off the Janet stuff. Goutman and Pissy have failed and missed a good chance for a strong sweeps showing.

[PhoenixRising05]

I agree with your complaints but I doubt any of those things is the reason for the drop in live+same day numbers. This drop began in early March and hasn't stopped. I do think a drop was expected but it's just kept going and going. The problem is there is no incentive to watch every day. People just watch later, maybe on the weekend (assuming they ever better to watch at this point). That is why things have gotten bad. The show looks to be slowly picking up in the coming weeks but I think the expectation is that the numbers may only move up slightly. I don't think Days or any other soap can see any consistently better numbers until September. Summer time is just a time when you don't have the audience that is normally accessible, especially a soap like Days that relies heavily on younger viewers. We'll see but they saw major drops last summer and recovered very quickly once September hit so I wouldn't worry too much and I don't think they are.

[Guest dc cubs]

I agree its time to start panicking about Days. Its a good thing they just got another renewal but they better turn things around soon or it will be their last one. Here's where taping 6-8 weeks ahead really hurts them.

[PhoenixRising05]

I would worry more if summer previews didn't indicate story movement and if Days hadn't had a similar lull and ratings decline last summer.

If people are seriously expecting Days or any soap to see any substantial uptick in the ratings from now-August, then they are just setting themselves up for disappointment. The audience just isn't there consistently and won't be until the Fall. That is why Days laid it all on the line during the September-February period. They knew that is when the audience is most accessible. More people just watch TV, especially live and same day, in the fall and winter. It's hard to get them in spring and summer when you have DVR's and other things now.

By the way, is there any way to get a hold of the DVR ratings for soaps, Toups? I would really like to see how many viewers the soaps get that don't watch live+same day.

[KSlater]

The ratings cannot be laid at the feet of one couple IMO. Ratings' trends are far more complex and they do not occur in a matter of a couple of months. Takes longer than that.

The seeds of the demographic drop were sown long ago. While the show did have a ratings revival from late to 2008 through winter 2009, which was definitely a reason to celebrate, it also continued to lose ground in the 18-49 demographic, although it wasn't readily apparent. But I started to notice this when Days was getting extremely high total viewership numbers and the demos did not correspond as they had in previous years. This started in 2008 and accelerated in 2009. They stayed stagnant or lost ground. January 11, 2010 -- 3,109,000 total viewers and a 1.2 demo -- that struck me as off. But then in February 2010, Days scored 3,325,000 viewers, but only scored a 1.3 demo rating -- that was the one that clued me into trouble. In past years, that kind of total viewer number brought in at least a 1.7 18-49 demographic rating. There are other weeks in late 2009 that were similar. Days was trending down before the current EJami story and its trajectory is very similar to that of ATWT in late 2007/early 2008. I don't think it has anything to do with a couple or character. Quite frankly, I think the audience is plain getting older and the stories are boring.

Anyway, I'm not a statistician --- actually I'm terrible with numbers LOL -- but this it something that I noticed. Maybe I'm wrong -- who knows, but it is interesting to speculate.

[AlteredStates]

A rather cynical take. What happened to the concept of writing good storylines year round regardless of seasonal viewership trends?

[Soapsuds]

It could be thundering outside with hail and you would say it's ok because it's really sunny....LOL.

More power to you if you don't think Days is in trouble.

If Toups says it's time to panic then I dont know what else will convince you.