January 17-21, 2011

[marceline]

One of the advantages for the cable channels is that they can change their programming on a dime. The networks can't do that.

[DRW50]

If it meant seeing less of the same ten shows on cable then I'd say bring on more snow...

[TeamEric]

Nielsen tracks 210 TV markets by city/regional TV affiliate stations range.

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/public%20factsheets/tv/2010-2011%20DMA%20Ranks.pdf

Traditionally GH's largest audience is in Northeast and West Coasts. I believe that hold trues for AMC and OLTL, too. So when the northeast gets hit hard with bad weather, ABC soaps tend to reap most benefit. CBS soaps traditionally performed better in the south and midwest. Bad weather in those regions reaps the most lapsed viewers tuning back in for them.

LAST Friday was a major blizzard in the Northeast particularly New England and Boston (we got 2ft of snow) is Nielsen's 7th largest market so I think ABC soaps could see a spike last Friday. NYC wasn't hit as hard though and they remain by far the largest TV market.

[TeamEric]

Up here in Boston, it's same story, with one northeaster after another. The snow banks are so high reminds me of blizzard of '78 when the state started to remove the snow on street corners in fear of cars hitting school children.

Look at OLTL's ratings the last 3 weeks and you can see some wild flucations and ITA it's due to weather changes.

4. OLTL 2,845,000 (+490,000/+197,000)

6. OLTL 2,371,000 (-474,000/-179,000)

6. OLTL 2,681,000 (+310,000/+251,000)

Not to make you blush but I love you, Toups :-)

[Soapsuds]

:lol:

I've got to give this a

+!

[chyti]

Here in NYC also,the snow is out of control and I hear more is coming next week. When they start closing public schools you know its bad out there.

These storms have been a blessing for the soaps and tv viewership in general.

[marceline]

HH

1. Y&R 3.6 (-.1)

2. B&B 2.3 (+.1)

3. DOOL 2.0 (-.1)

3. GH 2.0 (-.1)

5. AMC 1.9 (-.1)

5. OLTL 1.9 (-.1)

Courtesy of Lskreet. I am but the humble messenger.

[DRW50]

Thanks. So I guess my going on about bad B&B ratings led to an increase...

[marceline]

Basically this is opposite week to last week. All the shows that got a weather bump corrected themselves while B&B - the only show that didn't rise last week - went up this week.

[Soapsuds]

And I think that bolds well for B&B and future non bad weather ratings.

[DRW50]

This leads into the debate about whether any actual stories or characters make a difference in ratings today, but I still wonder if the stories were better, if viewers would stay around. Now soaps are trying to do the big shocks and big reveals, everything black and white, but the stories are such a mess, it's tough to care. It's sort of like the last year or so of Dark Shadows, only much worse.

[OLTL_fan]

Not terrible. Doesnt look like the 1 day break on Wednesday hurt ABC. Hope demos are ok.

[Kimmiemae]

Thanks marceline!

[Saving ATWT]

Pretty good week, and about how I thought things would turn out. Was thinking about how Days is the only soap that seems to gain/loose viewers depending on story.

BTW, has any one else noticed MTS extreme makeover? She looks HOT!

[marceline]

I don't know how much impact writing has anymore. I'm of the mindset that given soaps current state, good writing can't really bring people back but bad writing can definitely drive them away. Most of the people still watching soaps watch out of habit more than anything else and when they quit its mainly out of boredom or general frustration. For every person like me who quits out of anger over a story or character, there are 99 who simply realized one day that they were FFing through the entire show.