August 22-26, 2011

[Errol]

I'm not sure why parts of this thread turns into a fight week after week. Exactly who is being helped when you guys argue? Let someone have a differing opinion than yours and don't hide behind snide comments. Remember, only the posters of this forum dissect ratings this much and no one else besides the #'s crunchers at the networks/studios. They fight to sell ad space, you fight to ?

[TeamEric]

If you scroll back Toups asked for HELP determining the last time OLTL was #1 alone in 18-34 demos. We went back over the last time OLTL had big spikes, Todd's execution, Dan's gay reveal, etc, and that's how November 2000 came into the discussion.

This thread was pretty respectful and on topic, discussing RATINGS, until someone jumped in SOLELY to attack a fellow poster.

Anyhoo, it is interesting to discuss the bigger picture out there going on in network TV, etc. As this is not an OLTL tribute thread.

[Soapsuds]

[MontyB]

I read what Toups wrote and I have no problem with that.. I stand by what I said.The ratings are what they are.Whatever show is on top at any given time. Good for them. As for anyone attacking you, that has nothing to do with me.

I don't get the non-sequitur. No one thinks this is a OLTL tribute thread.

[HeedTheMessenger2.0]

What's interesting, and probably irrelevant in the grander scheme of this all, is that a lot of OLTL's viewer's surge is coming from Male viewers... if you look, they actually went up 54,000 male viewers last week while losing 60,000+ viewers overall. That means the show lost +110,000 female viewers overall but made up for the loss by gaining male viewers. They are also up 133,000 male viewers over last year (more than any other soap and about the same increase as GH, AMC, & Days combined). For years, I've noticed that OLTL has always been in last place (or close to it) with male viewers and always wondered why...

Just an interesting note.

Also, with over 500,000 male viewers watching OLTL (and with Y&R closer to 1 million) you would think that there must be some advertisers that would want to target these groups- not to generalize, but I find that most male viewers of soap operas tend to be gay- and this group have many of the same spending tendencies as women. In my experience anyway...

[TeamEric]

By all means let's IGNORE facts in a topic about RATINGS and NUMBERS.

Thrilled the focus hasn't been on the teens, too.

Why don't you just enjoy the show and stop bitching at fellow posters?

[TeamEric]

BLESS YOU!

For trying to get this thread back on topic and back to analyzing the NUMBERS.

I think that's a great point that OLTL has been gaining in male viewers.

I don't know about the gay generalization though. My experience is those who take the time to post on message boards and are really engaged tend to be gay. But a lot of older male viewers don't post but watch. I know one male who is straight and ready to retire. They been watching ABC soaps for decades in his firehouse. It's often background noise unless there is a juicy story going on and then he laughs they are glued to their sets. He prefers AMC to OLTL though. He's a big Erica fan. That's my anecdotal evidence.

[Vee]

Oh, I wasn't talking to you.

[edgeofnik]

I would agree that the vast majority of males are older (regardless of orientation). If you look at CBS' ratings (and shows like ATWT), they tended to have lower HH ratings but MORE viewers. The obvious interpretation is that older couples tended to watch together - like my parents. The Pharma companies know this, that's why they targeted soaps. These viewers do not watch The Talk or the upcoming shows on ABC. One other point, as CBS started dropping shows, the show that preceded showed a drop. I'm convinced that B&B has suffered ever since ATWT was gone. Remember in more than 50% of the country, it follows news, not Y&R. ATWT had a following and B&B definitely gained from early tune in or when people want to watch a block of soaps together. GL a little less impact since it had that split airing between morning and afternoon. Anyway, the real culprits are the companies that produce them P&G wanted out and so did ABC. (It was clear when ABC announced that SoapNet would flip to Disney Kids a couple of years ago, that they were going to cancel some shows because that was what made them somewhat profitable.) It's so frustrating to see when viewers get what they want, they come back. I'm glad OLTL is having this surge. I hope they keep it up to the end.

[aMLCproduction]

I just hope and pray for regime change for Y&R

[Saving ATWT]

Male viewers are key for HH rating. I remember the drop when male viewers stopped watching ATWT. The show always did well when they came in at 4th place in the male demo but that was over for the final two years.

Oddly, both OLTL and ATWT lost male viewers while doing gay storylines. The whole 'majority of male soap fans are gay' stuff is myth and sterotype. Str8 men have always watched soaps. I know they called OLTL the 'thinking man's soap' in the 1970s. Certainly a lot of gay guys like soaps; however, manyhetro night workers and retired men tune in. Most of the str8 guys do avoid posting on SON, tho

[edgeofnik]

BTW - Expect to see drops in overall viewers and demos. Nielsen did a major readjustment of markets - several big markets lost 100,000+ HH, including NY, LA and Atlanta, and what each rating point is worth. I'm sure some of it was related to census. There are 5 million fewer viewers in Nielsen's universe now. Last year W 18-49 a rating point was worth 659,700 viewers, now it's 640,000. So don't be surprised when ratings are released next week. Remember Labor Day will delay.) You can see full details at tvbythenumbers.com. (I can proudly say that I alerted them to the market changes, which were quite stunning that Nielsen was off by so much.)

[Llantano Incorporated]

OUCH. AND NY and LA are where the ABC shows do well.. Atlanta is more of a CBS area from what I know..