October 25-29, 2010

[DRW50]

I think that type of thing has happened more as fans have felt like the shows don't care about them and don't listen to them. You're going to have fans who fight, fans who feel the show died years ago and just kill it now, etc.

I guess the DAYS extension for two more years shows that in some cases the soaps do have more support than we sometimes think they do. It just doesn't really translate onscreen.

I do agree that a ratings surge doesn't mean a show is great, and a decline doesn't mean it's bad. Over at DC I see comments about how OLTL is so fantastic now and the ratings show it but I think it's still a very mixed bag, and the same people who helped sink the ratings like a stone last year are still there in stories which aren't that much better, so clearly it's not that different.

I guess at least that's better than Y&R, where Bacteria keep the ratings afloat and are the rebirth of stuporcouples.

[chyti]

But that is just my point to the networks these shows are a business something in which they make money and if they are not making enough money they will be cancel for something that is more profitable. The ratings, the press release neither of these things are meant for fans but we view them and speculate anyway.

IMO there is nothing to brag about with any of these show these little fluctuations are really just within the margin of errors of any rating system there will always be stronger days/weeks and weaker ones the network already understands this. Branding, owning the production of the show all of this plus more matter to the network, in daytime tv the brand name Oprah pulls the most weight. Mainstream press and industry recognization plays a huge part in the soaps business all fans think their favorite show is worthy but the reality is the industry could care less about them so yes the network will milk all the mainstream attention they can get for one of their soaps as to show their relevance in the industry just look at Y&R with their casting of D lister stars and GH with James Franco.

As far as soaps being renewed or cancelled of course the only people in the know are the ones making the decisions yet I believe if their was some other viable outlet for the networks at this time all of the remaining soaps would be cancelled by next year. The only thing saving these shows is that there is nothing to replaced them with and as soon as the networks get that something you best believe they will be gone.

[Bella20]

You can't just look at the last six weeks, the networks and advertisers don't do that. The HH numbers were better than September's, but the key demo was down, and the whole year is down in comparison to last year.

[DRW50]

I think this is as much about the insecurities of those who run certain soaps as it is about a business practice. You don't really get any big increase in the industry because you hire Adrienne Barbeau or Susan Olsen. But it's a way for those like Sheffer or MAB or Rauch or Guza, who seem ashamed of daytime, to try to show how special they are.

[TeamEric]

Actually the advertisers don't look at weekly or monthly averages. The only numbers that count to them are sweeps performance. OLTL had a decent May sweeps up in 18-49 and 18-34 demos.

As for October key demo being down? Seriously a few thousand difference is statistical white noise. Over the last months OLTL holding far steadier in that category than former demo king GH.

It's GH that lost 79,000 in demo.

Sep 2010 2,573,400 851,000

Oct 2010 2,439,250 772,000 ---- #9

As for year over year:

Oct 2009 2,430,400 741,800

Oct 2010 2,427,250 663,500

The demos are down and that's a problem. However, viewership held steady which in this climate is good news for them. GH and AMC are way down in comparision.

[Bella20]

This isn't true. A lot of shows have stopped doing stunts during sweeps, especially crossovers and having major guest stars appear on the shows, because advertisers realized that people would tune in during sweeps, and then tune back out again when the stunt was over. Advertisers are paying for more than just the sweeps episodes, so if the pay X amount of money based on ratings that a show was pulling in during November, then they expect to have that same number of people tuning in during October, or else they are overpaying, and not getting their money's worth.

[TeamEric]

Well, Bella20, ADWEEK last year had an article on this very subject and they disagree with you. They explained how sweeps determine ad rates and used a great sports metaphor. You can have a banner year but most don't pay attention until the playoffs and then if you fail to score big in the playoffs your year deemed a failure. Sweeps is the TV show's playoffs and that's when advertisers really analyze the numbers. If you fail to score during the playoffs the rest of your year's numbers don't count much. So having a good October but a lousy November will hurt you far more than a lousy October but great November with advertisers. There's still a big reason why there are no repeats during sweeps, and networks often save their biggest promotional pushes for those 3 sweep months.

[Kimmiemae]

Excellent point marceline! Which is why I never argue about it. I'm just happy that OLTL is showing some life whether it last or not. I think OLTL is on fire right now, and I'm enjoying most of the stories.

[CouchTomato]

From ABC Daytime:

ABC Daytime May 2010 Sweep (4/29/10-5/26/10)

* ABC ranked as Daytime’s No. 1 network for the May 10 Sweep among Women 18-49 (1.2 rating/788,000 -- tie).

* In Women 18-49, ABC claimed 2 of the Top 3 Daytime programs in the May 10 Sweep: "General Hospital" (#2 -- 1.4 rating/929,000) and "The View" (#3T -- 1.2 rating/816,000).

* "General Hospital" was the only daytime drama to post growth over the May 09 sweep in Total Viewers (2.72 million vs. 2.68 million).

* In Women 18-34, "General Hospital" was No. 1 (#1T -- 1.0 rating/327,000) for the May 10 sweep.

Program Net Rtg/000s

The Young & the Restless CBS 1.8/1.21 million

General Hospital ABC 1.4/929,000

The View ABC 1.2/816,000

Days of Our Lives NBC 1.2/760,000

One Life to Live ABC 1.1/746,000

[Bella20]

Think about this logically, while there are four months out of the year where programs highlight their ratings to try and entice advertisers, advertisers aren't just paying for their ads to be shown during those months, so they do care about the ratings for the non-sweeps months.