March 25-29, 2013: Good Week for Y&R & GH

[dragonflies]

*dead* I love you Cheap lol

Actually it is, and it's not a matter of opinion, it's been said ad nauseum if they hadn't turned the show around it would have been cancelled, ABC was on the verge of it, even the actors said they knew the axe was coming

LMAO so were you fist pumping when the show dropped ratings like a week or so ago? We have no way to know what causes rises or drops. I could say "woohoo Connie not being on screen for weeks is what made the ratings rise" but then one could argue that her not being onscreen made them drop when they did.

[JONNYSBRO]

What's crazy is how y and r is doing under JFP versus maria bell a year ago. Considering how fans hated her at Gh there is not the same hate for her at y and r. Is y and r a better fit for JFP? Is she doing decent

[marceline]

It is amazing to see those year-to-year numbers. Each show with the exception of DAYS is up about a half million and even DAYS is showing signs of life. I certainly never thought the genre would have this much relative health again. Between this and PP, I'm rather enjoying being wrong. Who knows, maybe a year from now, we'll be hearing about a new soap.

[Ann_SS]

But the key 18 to 49 women demo for all the soaps, which is all that matters, is just about exactly the same. Being steady is not "relative health" and certainly does not indicate growth.

[rhinohide]

A lot of falsehoods are repeated ad nauseum. Think WMD. It was expected to be cancelled in September. Only the abject failure of The Revolution prevented that. Not HackTini. And that is a fact! Remember bloggers, soap press and the dastardly duo begging soap fans to boycott The Revolution and The Chew and GAA. Everyone said if GAA were nominally successful GH was dead. It wasn't. And only then was it announced GH would survive for awhile. As for my motivation for the fist pump, I will just let you continue to do what you do best.

[Toups]

I think the +300,000 is just the show getting back the viewers they lost in the last 3 weeks. 2.7 million is about what they normally get. The 2.4 million they got last week was really low so it's no surprise they got a big chunk back. Yeah, the show is skewing old but that's not a surprise either - just look at the people they brought back, most of them are over 50. I think FV/RC have only been over 700,000 once or twice in 18-49 viewers.

[y&r_fan]

As Angelica McDaniel said, JFP is the executive producer - NOT the head writer. Y&R's success can be attributed to Josh Griffith and GH's downfall can be attributed to Bob Guza. JFP wasn't crafting the stories at either show.

[TeamEric]

Thanks that's my thinking, too, though I traced the start of the skewing older to Mid-2011.

In Feb 2011, GH averaged 2.7 million viewers for the entire month and the demos were over 800,000.

In March 2011, GH gained nearly 300,000 viewers one week and the demos soared up 150,000 to nearly 900,000. So those 18-49 viewers were still out there to be lured back.

When the viewership began to crater in May 2011, the demos fell too down to mid to high 600,000s.

GH closed out March 2013 up nearly 500,000 in viewers yet only 52,000 in 18-49 demo and that tells the tale. Cartini have stemmed GH's bleeding viewership but nothing so far has corrected the demo erosion that began in mid-2011.

[quartermainefan]

I think if you look at the numbers GH skews the youngest of all the soaps.

The total audience is

3. GH 2,754,000 (+303,000/+499,000)

and now look at the size of the audience under 50

GH 622,000 (+17,000/+52,000)

That's 24%. Now look at the supposed number one show in the demos:

Y&R 4,755,000 (+44,000/+631,000)

and look at their audience under 50

Y&R 887,000 (+21,000/+22,000)

That looks like something like 18% give or take.

And then if you want to go even younger look at their audience under 35

GH 208,000 (same/+81,000)

That's something like 7% of the audience.

Y&R 248,000 (-1,000/+51,000)

and that is 5%.

[JackPeyton]

248,000 and 887,000 is still a larger audience than 208,000 and 622,000 tho. Y&R isnt the supposed number one show in the demos, it IS the number one show in the demos.

GH may have a larger percent of their viewing audience, but their audience is significantly smaller than that of Y&R.

[jfung79]

It's relative health in comparison to the decline in the demos that was there in past years for all soaps. The bleeding is over and the curve is beginning to bend back up.

It's all about the point of comparison where GH is concerned in terms of skewing older -- whether to compare to last year or several years ago. The numbers can be interpreted different ways. But the direct year to year comparison for this week makes GH look like it is recovering better than other soaps in the demos too, especially in the 18-34 range.

[JackPeyton]

I get what Ann is saying though.

It is like being good by comparison versus being good on your own merit.

Other soaps have grown greatly and then lost it all and more, namely Days.

[quartermainefan]

I wish there was someone in the ad business who could explain how these things really work because from what I have read advertisers are interested in the shows that most effectively reach the target audience, which is while Walking Dead may not be the actual number one show on TV, it's insane demos make it the real number one show and I assume the ad rates reflect the show's ability to grab young eyes. So back to GH and Y&R: I am going to assume their ad rates are different because otherwise these demo rankings would not matter. Since Y&R ranks higher I guess I have to assume they have the higher ad rate. Now here I come looking to place an ad that will reach someone 35 or 40 years old. I could pay the higher rate where the audience is more diffused and my dollars are somewhat wasted on this huge swath of viewers I have no interest in, or I could go pay GH where even though they have a smaller audience my dollars are spent more efficiently. Which show gives the advertiser a better return? I have to assume based on the higher percentage of younger eyes, that the better return is deemed to be GH. If their ad rates are the same then none of this matters.

[JackPeyton]

Why would it be more efficent at GH when Y&R has a large amount more viewers who are in that demo? Its a lower percentage of their audience, but its a higher number so actual eyeballs it is more. A larger audience equates ti a lower percentage, but that lower percentage usually still has more people in it than the lower rated show with a higher percentage of the target demo.

Of course with advertising, there are other factors besides the rating too. Such as the income and location and race, gender, age of the viewer as well as the cost of the ad.

[quartermainefan]

Because the lower rated show may have a lower ad rate but the larger percentage of the demo makes it a more efficient way to spend a dollar.    You are paying less and yet still reach the desired amount of demo per dollar spent.   That's why these advertisers care about demos: how best to reach the audience you want to reach.