ARTICLE: RATINGS: ‘Days of our Lives’ Ends Its Broadcast Television Run on a Whimper

[Errol]

After 57 seasons on television, “Days of our Lives” ended its broadcast television run on NBC during the week of September 5-9, 2022. Beginning Monday, September 12, the soap became a streaming only series, exclusively available to subscribers of Peacock and its premium tier. With only three soaps remaining on daytime broadcast, find out how “Days of our Lives” performed in Total Viewers, Households, Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 rating during its final broadcast television week.

Among Total Viewers, “Days of our Lives” continued to rank fourth among the daytime broadcast soaps, attracting just 1.679 million viewers and 1.1 rating in households, increasing +93,000 viewers week to week and +20,000 viewers compared to the same week last year. Compared to all of daytime broadcast, the soap ranked 10th overall among viewers and tied for 10th in Women 18-49 rating with ”TODAY with Hoda & Jenna” (1.509 million) and reruns of “The Talk” (1.229 million). The soap was also tied for seventh place in Women 25-54 rating, ahead of reruns of “The Talk” and “GMA3: What You Need to Know” (1.424 million).

In the all-important key sales demos, however, the soap tied its series low in Women 18-49 for the second consecutive week, flat with its week ago performance and down -0.1 from the year ago period. “Days of our Lives” averaged a 0.4 rating in Women 25-54, flat week to week and year to year.

Of the six daytime soaps exiting broadcast television since 2009, either by cancellation or a move to another platform, “Days of our Lives” ranks just ahead of “Passions” among Total Viewers during their respective finale weeks.

• “One Life to Live” (2012, ABC) – 3.120 million
• “All My Children” (2011, ABC) – 2.999 million
• ”Guiding Light” (2009, CBS) – 2.602 million
• ”As The World Turns” (2010, CBS) – 2.593 million
• ”Days of our Lives” (2022, NBC) – 1.679 million
• ”Passions” (2007, NBC) – 1.645 million

Peacock TV LLC

Like all other daytime broadcast shows for the week, “Days of our Lives” was preempted all or in part on Thursday, September 8 (full) and Friday, September 9 (41 minutes) due to NBC News coverage on the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the ascension of King Charles III. The episodes were made available without interruption on Peacock, giving fans another reason to sign up for the streaming service which is currently selling premium subscriptions for as little as $1.99 a month or $19.99 for an annual plan through the end of September.

A complete look at how daytime broadcast performed during the week of September 5-9, 2022 will be posted shortly.

Note: The post RATINGS: ‘Days of our Lives’ Ends Its Broadcast Television Run on a Whimper appeared first on the Soap Opera Network website.

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[Soapsuds]

@Errol

Love the title

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[Contessa Donatella]

Oh my, can I just say, Yikes! or MEOW, not sure which!! What an incredible "other shoe" to drop. WTG, @Errol! finely put, with just the right heft. But, the thing of it is, it's true & accurate. What's left to say? Well, the most important thing of all ... how did they land on their new turf?

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[te.]

A bit dumb to compare ratings from a decade ago considering how hard broadcast ratings have fallen. The only thing this shows is how far Passions had dropped by the end of its run on NBC.

[Contessa Donatella]

Sure, that is what sticks out but that is the real takeaway from PSSN as a whole, isn't it? TPTB had such high expectations of what ratings would be, were so disappointed in what they actually were & how they did, or didn't, support the demo that was successful.

[te.]

I wouldn't say Passions was a disappointment during its entire run - I think around 2002-03 or somewhere around that mark, it was one of the few soaps that managed to grow from its initial ratings on broadcast and was impressive in the younger demographic (which is how it survived almost a decade on air). It's just that as JER increasingly lost the plot, so did Passions (and by extension DAYS in his second run).

[Paul Raven]

I recall NBC trumpeting that Passions was strong in the 13-17 demo and tried to claim that this cohort would keep watching as they grew into the desirable 18 + demo.

Conveniently ignoring that what you watched as a  teen doesn't necessarily translate into what you would want to watch as you grew older.

If Passions had have gone for a more serious gothic tone, it might have done better.

[Contessa Donatella]

I agree. I know many PSSN fans who were too old for the younger demo who felt mistreated & neglected. But, PSSN's success was clearly younger than ever before! The disappointment in the beginning was as much overly optimistic pie in the sky dreams as anything.

[Contessa Donatella]

And, of course, PSSN did so well with 2-12 yr olds! It gave some PTB pause to try to think how they could monetize that ... which they couldn't really. Of course some PTB at that time were just sure that JER was going to bring home winners in every demo. They had to scramble to get behind what they had, not what they'd dreamt of.

[te.]

Yes, absolutely. Just look at Dark Shadows - it also burnt very bright for two years or so and then it just fell. Part of it was blamed on Dan Curtis checking out to do the movie, but on the other hand, regular soap fans are ridiculously devoted and won't tune out in droves because of a bad few months (which weren't that bad tbh). The implication being here that the Dark Shadows fans who brought it to its heights were more fickle than regular soap watchers; same with the kind of audience who tuned into Passions 30 years later. 

 

Either way, Passions does deserve some credit for actually improving its initial ratings for a while - something that neither Sunset Beach or Port Charles managed to do.

[Vee]

IMO Dark Shadows could've potentially survived in some form if Dan Curtis had been willing to modernize and merge its style with that of conventional daytime rhythms and romances of the period. He didn't do that because he was a showman and impresario first, not a showrunner. He was always chasing the next big hype in any project (his future cult classic Burnt Offerings is pretty much a more star-laden and violent retelling of Night of Dark Shadows) and it was a part of the show; investing in any real couples or characters beyond the monster set like Barnabas, Julia, Angelique, Quentin, etc. was not happening. The closest parallel to what DS could've become was and remains Edge of Night, which regularly told gothic, occasionally supernaturally-tinged mysteries and had a very unique flair and atmosphere but retained a core canvas of characters with popular couples and ongoing subplots in the present day world. There was a way to allow it to survive, but Curtis simply didn't build it for that.

OTOH, more people in the mainstream remember DS and option it for future material today than Edge of Night, so what does that tell you?

Edited September 16, 2022 by Vee