May 23-27, 2011

[TeamEric]

As I tracked the pre and post VM returns monthly viewership for GH, I plan on doing the same for RH so can gauge his impact on ratings:

Pre-Howarth:

April 2011 averaged 2,598,048 viewers with 670,500 in 18-49 demos.

Post Howarth:

May 2011 averaged 2,566,850 viewers with 647,000 in 18-49 demos.

Of note, May sweeps ended last Wednesday and OLTL finished behind its February sweeps in viewership. However, compared to last year OLTL was significantly UP in viewership thought demos were down year over year.

OLTL monthly Averages:

2009 Monthly averages:

Jan 2009 2,453,947 808,600

Feb 2009 2,513,750 769,500

Mar 2009 2,691,950 820,000

Apr 2009 2,446,917 748,600

May 2009 2,353,900 780,600

Jun 2009 2,531,864 766,500

Jul 2009 2,515,571 745,800

Aug 2009 2,365,400 745,800

Sep 2009 2,477,000 740,400

Oct 2009 2,430,400 741,800

Nov 2009 2,532,750 736,500

Dec 2009 2,430,400 648,400

2010 Monthly averages:

Jan 2010 2,489,000 708,000 --- 2nd

Feb 2010 2,599,750 772,000 --- 1st

Mar 2010 2,395,266 716,400

Apr 2010 2,326,818 662,800

May 2010 2,375,000 725,250

Jun 2010 2,300,467 665,600

Jul 2010 2,358,524 653,400

Aug 2010 2,273,000 657,250

Sep 2010 2,344,750 675,250

Oct 2010 2,427,250 663,500 --- 4th

Nov 2010 2,380,600 643,250

Dec 2010 2,440,000 623,000 --- 3rd

2011 Monthly averages:

Jan 2011 2,541,300 619,500

Feb 2011 2,601,316 647,250

Mar 2011 2,447,130 594,600 --- new all-time low monthly demo average

Apr 2011 2,598,048 686,667

May 2011 2,566,850 647,000

[Soapsuds]

The ratings dont matter anymore. The remaining soaps will be cancelled soon. I've lost all interest in the numbers.

[marceline]

Agreed but the straws are here for grasping.

[ATWT_GL_fan]

No you didn't. If you did you wouldn't even be posting in this thread. LOL.

[Eric83]

I'm sorry, but what is the point of this? OLTL is dead regardless.

[Soapsuds]

I'd be saying more if I were interested in the numbers.Now it's a mute point.

[JaneAusten]

DOes anyone think any of the other remaining shows will pick up viewers fron ABC?

I am still wondering about demos. BEcause even with the improvements in viewers at OLTL the demos really have not

budged. So has that younger audience in fact moved on?

[Eric83]

They won't.

[Carolyn1980]

Is that like a point that can't speak?

[jams1234]

................. .......

[trish672]

If I remember correctly, RH's comings and goings never had much of an impact on OLTL's ratings one way or the other. Don't really see that changing this time around.

[marceline]

OLTL fans have never been good at separating agenda from reality. Just look at all the "GO OLTL!!!" posts in last week's thread and the comparative silence in this one.

[DRW50]

I do enjoy reading TeamEric's analyses, although I know ratings are pretty much meaningless now.

I think RH had a positive effect on the ratings, somewhat, in his first return, but after that he went back and forth so much that it lost impact.

[Bella20]

It's not that they moved on, they never got invested in soaps in the first place. This is a major issue for soaps, and all of network television. They need younger viewers in order to continue, or else the ratings will continue to crash, since not having younger viewers means that they won't be around to turn into older viewers. Soaps have never figured out how to attract the young demo, and that demo is going to be turned off by the lack of diversity in soaps, the shows bad mainstream reputation, and the way that women are treated. This demo is going to be better educated than the women who watched soaps twenty to thirty years ago, so they aren't likely to get into storylines where women fawn over rapists and mobsters.

A lot of the mistakes that the shows have made have been done in an attempt to attract younger viewrs, such as hiring people who are attractive, but can't act, going to more plot driven storylines, and playing fast and loose with characters' histories. But, most tv executives seem to agree that younger viewers like character driven stories, and drawn out story arcs, so it's no wonder that the things that the soaps tried failed.