Ratings for the week August 17-21, 2020

Why do I find it exciting to see which shows will hit new lows every week? 

CBS is in crisis mode if they can’t get that million viewers back to Y&R. That’s going to rank their entire daytime lineup. They need to hire a strong writer, give them carte blanche and suck it up and bring back Victoria Rowell. They need to stop playing games at this point. 

ABC would be smart to do a The Chew reboot and NBC could try anything because nothing is saving Days now.  Do a 5th hour of Today and they’d likely get better ratings on the cheap.  CBS is biding its time.  Without Y&R towing the line for B&B it’s doomed and Y&R waited too late to make writing changes.  My whole family were CBS watchers and kept watching ATWT and GL until the end:  We’ve all stopped watching.  I don’t think GL with its home video cameras fell below a 1.5.  Funny stuff.  

54 minutes ago, Fevuh said:

ABC would be smart to do a The Chew reboot and NBC could try anything because nothing is saving Days now.  Do a 5th hour of Today and they’d likely get better ratings on the cheap.  CBS is biding its time.  Without Y&R towing the line for B&B it’s doomed and Y&R waited too late to make writing changes.  My whole family were CBS watchers and kept watching ATWT and GL until the end:  We’ve all stopped watching.  I don’t think GL with its home video cameras fell below a 1.5.  Funny stuff.  

 

I know we all have the same argument over ratings almost every week, but have you SEEN just how far the prime-time ratings have fallen over the past decade? I was looking at a recent Nielsen report, and the #10 primetime show had only a 2.5 households rating and 3.8 million viewers overall. Compared to that, daytime's declines don't seem so bad. And shows like Days are driving viewers to the networks' streaming apps. Given the current state of network TV, I think the networks would be foolish to cancel any of their soaps (although they probably will continue to tighten their budgets). 

Once DAYS goes back into production, if they're able to continuously crank out new episodes, I could see NBC giving them yet another year simply because everything else is so tentative right now, in terms of what new content and shows will be available for broadcast in the next two seasons. Lord knows Covid's going to be with us well into 2021... 

 

Edited August 28, 20205 yr by Gray Bunny

Wait for the week of whatever this week is.  DC area is #6 in Viewership/Nielsen.  Every show is going to go down.  Everyone here is airing the March on Washington.  Y&R and B&B are the only ones that I continued to watch after GL and ATWT, but they ran ads during the March about them being on at like 2:30 or 3:30 tomorrow morning.   Expect it for Days and GH as well.  It might be one tenth of a ratings point or a couple tenths.  They're not going to be able to take this much longer.  

Soaps are finished! Those ratings are atrocious! 

 

YR ratings

Edited August 29, 20205 yr by Soapsuds

16 hours ago, prefab1 said:

 

I know we all have the same argument over ratings almost every week, but have you SEEN just how far the prime-time ratings have fallen over the past decade? I was looking at a recent Nielsen report, and the #10 primetime show had only a 2.5 households rating and 3.8 million viewers overall. Compared to that, daytime's declines don't seem so bad. And shows like Days are driving viewers to the networks' streaming apps. Given the current state of network TV, I think the networks would be foolish to cancel any of their soaps (although they probably will continue to tighten their budgets). 

Most soaps have gotten higher numbers that a lot of primetime shows the past few years (hello CW, NBC and Fox!) it still does feel like a bizarro world that a new primetime  show nowadays brings in a 4.0(use to be daytime’s magic number lol) declared a hit and is instantly renewed.

 

That said, the writing for the soaps is in terrible shape at the moment for sure. The show Yellowstone has become a sensation in its third season this past summer, it’s too bad Daytime doesn’t have the writing talent at the moment.

On 8/28/2020 at 6:02 AM, prefab1 said:

 

I know we all have the same argument over ratings almost every week, but have you SEEN just how far the prime-time ratings have fallen over the past decade? I was looking at a recent Nielsen report, and the #10 primetime show had only a 2.5 households rating and 3.8 million viewers overall. Compared to that, daytime's declines don't seem so bad. And shows like Days are driving viewers to the networks' streaming apps. Given the current state of network TV, I think the networks would be foolish to cancel any of their soaps (although they probably will continue to tighten their budgets). 

Even if they are cancelled, I see them all just being moved online, CBS All Access and Peacock and Hulu can take them.

Cross-posted:

 

This show is a debacle, and when they're cancelled IMO that's it. Do not assume these networks are dying to port increasingly unprofitable shows they're embarrassed by to new streaming outlets. That can and should happen for existing soap brands which are willing to completely revolutionize, but it has never been something the remaining soap networks are terribly interested in. It would be a very bad mistake to assume that if CBS cancels Y&R it or GH or DAYS will just jump to All Access or Hulu or Peacock or wherever. There is absolutely zero indication that the networks give a [!@#$%^&*] to do that. I understand some people are just happy to watch these shows no matter how bad they get, but the reality is they are dying and unless there is a massive foundational change that is unlikely to happen they will not jump to the streaming market.