June 20-24, 2011

[TeamEric]

Except the long-term trendlines show OLTL slightly BELOW it's April performance in viewership and demos:

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

June 2011 (thru 6/24) averaging 2,570,056 with 645,000 in 18-49 demos.

OLTL has gained 471,000 viewers compared to last year. However, the key demos gains are a measley +4,000 and alas that proves ABC's point that soaps are only capable of attracting back older viewers.

All this talk about VIEWERSHIP GAINS reminds me of when AMC's viewership gained after all the big anniversary promotion. Some of us here took note no matter what AMC how well its viewership did, it couldn't also spike up its demos and noted that was a major troubling sign.

I don't claim to know anyone at ABC but I do know someone at an Northeast affilate and those 2012 season contracts are based on a cheaper rate starting in January. Those are some tricky contracts to suddenly at the 11th hour change as the affiliates forced ABC's hand in the first place to provide cheaper programming.

[MontyB]

LOL...

[Eric83]

Affiliates don't pay for the shows. Why do they care how cheap or expensive a show is? That's all on ABC.

[Ann_SS]

Yes, but it is like talking to a brick wall. Most of the people here have ignored the importance of the 18 to 49 women demo for years. The only show that made any gains in that demo over the last two years was Days and it proceeded to collapse a year later. It makes absolutely no sense that ABC would even consider rescinding the cancellation of OLTL or that any network would be interested in buying a show like OLTL which has high production costs when it is doing so horribly in the 18 to 49 women demo.

[Eric83]

If OLTL gets a reprieve it will only be until the fall of 2012, and I'm perfectly fine with that. I have no high expectations.

[JNewt]

It's possible ABC is trying to examine OLTL closely so they can use it to serve as a lead-in to their new shows. They may decide to extend it to the fall and Katie Couric's new show will take OLTL's place that fall and GH will stay on the air for the time being at 3pm.

I've been hearing that The Revolution's situation is so bad right now that it might not even make it on the air at all. They may replace it with something else but I think what its truly going to come down to is if The Chew does well or not. If The Chew doesn't do well then it's very possible they may focus on other plans on what to air in OLTL's place.

[TeamEric]

This leaked ABC excitement about viewership gains makes absolutely no sense to me either, Ann_SS, as its demos are even worse this year.

OLTL averaged 725,000 in demos for May sweeps last year also finishing in 3rd place yet Frons confirmed he almost canceled it then. This year it performed 647,000 for May sweeps (also 3rd) and I'm to believe he's so impressed he wants to rescind cancellation?

OLTL is 471,000 viewers ahead of last year, and that IS good news... except, it only managed a .1% gain in 18-49 demos. So the network whose press releases only focus on demos and whose president said aging demographics are the main problem with soaps is suddenly excited about a .1% gain? Excited enough to backtrack and reinstate a programming that is 40% more expensive to produce than their stupid reality shows?

[TeamEric]

It's part of the cost of picking up network shows. Many affiliates wanted the timeslots back to replace with their cheaper local programming or to have the syndication option which can be a better value.

[DRW50]

If this happens then the only way I could see it is if The Revolution continues having problems and since they already have the sets and some people are still under contract, they would just keep OLTL going for a bit until The Revolution fixes itself or they find a replacement.

Or they could have Reba come back and sum up the current ABC lineup - A Daytime to Forget.

[marceline]

I have to believe they expect these new shows to get off to slow start as they find an audience. They must be willing to give them one or two sweeps periods to find their footing. I doubt that a couple of weeks of soft numbers for The Chew (Lawd I HATE that name!) is going to make them backtrack on a business strategy they've been executing for more than a year. Plus, help me out here, but aren't the hosts of these shows under a contract with ABC? So that's money committed. If The Revolution needs more time, ABC could honestly fill that space with old classic episodes of OLTL or AMC and kill time for a few months. It wouldn't cost them a thing and they could move all that production budget to The Revolution to fix it. They already have a history of showing reruns and the offline soap fans would eat it up.

[DRW50]

The repeats would probably be under the floor in terms of ratings.

Considering how much they want The Chew to be their huge breakout hit, I wouldn't be surprised if they just show reruns of that in OLTL's timeslot.

[marceline]

I think you're right about that. That would be two hours of The Chew. Talk about overkill but it would serve it's purpose.

I think the soap repeats could work with a little promotion. "It's classic love in the afternoon! Go back to the beginning and fall in love all over again" It's cliche and stupid but it's cheap. Of course it serves the very audience they want nothing to do with. So yeah, scratch it.

[DRW50]

If it were up to me, working with their current lineup, I would put together repeats of GH episodes that go in line with the supposed improvements we will see with GH. I would also interview past and present cast members, and perhaps hobble together a flashback episode with the Spencers, the Quartermaines, with returns for Monica, Lesley, Audrey, etc. But then, if it's true that they are done with GH, that would also be pointless...

[Carolyn1980]

To put things in perspective here....OLTL did 43% better than AMC did in the 18-49 demo last week. GH only did 6% better than OLTL in that demo...and continued its losing streak to OLTL in women 18-34.

[melador]

According to Errol's Twitter on 7/1/11 - wasn't he supposed to post an article re: ABC's view of OLTL right now - today ??? Am I missing it ???