March 27-31, 2006

[Adam]

What the hell happend to ABC/NBC.... those numbers are terrible and some of the biggest one week decreases we've seen in a LONG time... this sucks. AMC hit an all time low in demos where did everyone go? LOL

[R!ck]

Ask, and you shall receive

Jan - March: 13 week rolling averages......

HH

1. Y&R = 4.2

2. B&B = 3.3

3. GH = 2.9

4. AMC = 2.7

4. DAYS = 2.7

6. ATWT = 2.6

6. OLTL = 2.6

8. GL = 2.3

9. PSNS = 1.7

Demos

1. Y&R = 2.1

2. DAYS = 2.0

2. GH = 2.0

3. AMC = 1.9

4. OLTL = 1.8

5. B&B = 1.7

7. ATWT = 1.4

7. PSNS = 1.4

9. GL = 1.3

And the seasonal ratings Sept-Now

HH

1. Y&R 4.2

2. B&B 3.3

3. GH 2.8

4. AMC 2.6

4. ATWT 2.6

4. DAYS 2.6

4. OLTL 2.6

8. GL 2.3

9. PSNS 1.7

Women 18-49 Rating

1. Y&R 2.1

2. GH 2.0

3. DAYS 1.9

4. AMC 1.8

4. OLTL 1.8

6. B&B 1.7

7. PSNS 1.4

8. ATWT 1.3

9. GL 1.2

Umm, because NBC owns it, and It's the #2 show in 18-34, 18-24, and 90% of the time gets better 18-49 demos than ATWT/GL

[Angela]

The last time AMC got a 2.2 was Friday, October 28, 2005.

OLTL hasn't had a 2.2 since the 2005-2006 Season began in late September. Well until now. Ditto PAS with the 1.3!

December 22, 2005 last time GH got a 2.5!

November 10, 2005 for DAYS last 2.3!

[OneLife Fan]

Yuck!!

[PhoenixRising05]

AMEN!!!

This has nothing to do with the couples being broke up. Most of the supercouples have been broken up for months so the ratings would not have been what they were if what you say is true. I hope Days keeps them all apart because I am sick to death of this whole fanbase thing. Days is damned if they do and damned if they don't and that will never change until these rabid fanbases make up their mind and decide what they want. First, they want the couples to have a story. Days gives them stories but then the fanbases don't like them so Days is blasted with letters and forced to rewrite thereby doing a quick rush job on a story. Then they say they want the couples to be happy and together which means in soapland no story or airtime and then the letters come again. I don't think there has been a time in like 10 years where one group was not happy with Days and that is very telling. There is always something to pick on. I just love how these people (not trying to start anything by the way) who are blasting Days this week were not around the last few weeks in the ratings threads when Days was going up and doing well. News flash Days bashers-OTHER SOAPS FELL TOO!!! I am not saying Days is perfect because no show is. What I am saying is this pattern of picking on Days only when its ratings decrease is getting old. At least if you are gonna criticize the show do it even when it goes up not just when it goes down. I am so frustrated with these fanbases. I mean they are seriously people who want Sheri Anderson to come back still. What could she do? Fans would be appeased for awhile and the minute there is hint of a couple breaking up they will blast Days again. Its cycle-doesn't matter the writer it is always gonna happen and its a sad truth that no other show has to deal with. I would actually hate to see a writer change because it has happened on several shows and made them worse. With JER at least you know what you are getting at the very least.

I will give the Bope fanbase credit-they are at least giving things a chance and are mellow for the most part based on the boards I visit. Good for them.

As for Passions, now that is a show that needs help fast.

Ok end of rant. Sorry but I am so frustrated and sick of all these Days bashers and these fanbases.

Thanks Rick-NBC not doing too bad. Days numbers are quite good. I do think that is why Passions is still on Rick but I think Days helps them out too.

[RogerNewcomb]

Thanks, Rick. I'm sure the networks and shows following the weekly ratings, but if you're running a business you can't go crazy over one week. They have to look at the trends and the whole season and how they compared to the previous year.

When is Nielsen going to increase their Tivo sampling? I was sure that would have a positive impact.

[Toups]

Well, the good news for DAYS is that its doing better than same time last year. I like to try and find the positives.

Total Viewers

5. DAYS 3,101,000 (-563,000/+182,000)

Women 18-49 Viewers

2. DAYS 1,196,000 (-259,000/+91,000)

Girls 12-17 Viewers

1. DAYS 66,000 (-10,000/+9,000)

Women 18-49 Rating

2. DAYS 1.8/12 (-.4/+.1)

[OneLife Fan]

i find it funny how OLTL beat AMC in most of those ratings..except maybe 2 i think. Bad week for ABC soaps....but i have to laugh my ass off that OLTL passed AMC. I like that actually!!

[Toups]

Right on, Rick. And Passions is still making a profit for NBC because the show is cheap to produce.

[R3dheartz]

AMC only beat GL by 22,000!

Hopefully the AMC storylines pick up. It seems like they are being drug out so everything will happen during May Sweeps.

[Adam]

Hopefully there are still lots of Tad and Dixie fans out there because everytime these two have their reunions the rating sskyrocket.... and they see each other I believe next week. soo.... hopefully that will bring them back up.

[SimoneS]

Wow, these ratings are terrible. They make me fear for the future of the soaps.

The ratings of ATWT 50th Anniversary show on Friday are really disappointing. There was so much advertising for that episode. I can only hope that the Monday 50th Anniversary show did better.

ATWT has to find a way to draw more of those younger female viewers.

[jpoliver78]

There are two interesting footnotes about the much-talked about NBC soaps...

both set or tied a record low rating - which is never a good thing for any network series.

Also, "Days" came dangerously close to tying with CBS's "Guiding Light", which always seems to be in danger of cancellation. I do admire some posters who try to accentuate the positive, but I'm sure the folks at NBC Daytime are not at all pleased with these numbers - even if they are only for one week.

Meanwhile, ABC is reaping the after effects of those inflated February sweeps numbers. "General Hospital" only managed to better their ratings from the previous week by 1 day (Monday) and "One Life to Live" tied with two of their days (Tue./Wed.) while "All My Children" was the big loser with each day lower than the same day the previous week.

On the flip side, CBS showed why it owns the daytime arena (at least in total viewers) as "The Young and the Restless" and "As the World Turns" remained stable; "Guiding Light" ticked slightly upward and only "The Bold and the Beautiful" down by the same small amount.

As for "Passions", the soap still has the same executive producer and head writer since day one. Perhaps a behind the scenes makeover is in order. While NBC's ownership does play to its advantage, even network ownership has its limits. If the soap continues to see record low numbers, then unfortunately a shake-up (at the best) and cancellation (at the worst) must be considered.

Finally, just for fun...

Although I don't know the status of NBC's contract/renewal talks with "Days" producers, but if I were calling the shots at ABC and wanted to pick up the soap, here's how I would do it...

First, I would shave 30 mins. of "One Life to Live" in order to save it from cancellation. As a result, "All My Children" would have to move up thirty minutes to 12:30 p.m. (Affiliates may initially be upset, but they may be unlikely to pre-empt the entire hour-long AMC. It would easier for affiliates to pre-empt a 30-min. soap like OLTL.) Then, OLTL would shift to 2:30 p.m. with the relocated "Days" in between the two soaps.

To recap...a potential ABC/"Days" daytime line-up...

12:30 All My Children

1:30 Days of Our Lives

2:30 One Life to Live

3:00 General Hospital

The network could actually save money by shortening OLTL. Producers would have to trim the large cast and get rid of some unneeded/useless/dead weight characters. Less characters and good writing could rejuvenate the series, which finds itself in the unenviable position of being at the bottom of the ABC ladder.

[Jess]

This week had a lot of really strange drops. If it was just one show -- say OLTL -- I'd say months of the same story had finally caught on. In this case, when so many soaps dropped and no soap went up, you can chalk it up to one thing -- a random sample fluke.

If you toss a coin 100 times, odds are you will land heads 50 times plus or minus 3.5 in 95 out of 100 instances. In the other 5 instances when you toss the coin 100 times, the number is off.

Same is true of ratings. It's a statistic -- 95 percent of the time, it is right on. I suspect this is one of the times when random chance worked in, they drew a weird sample and every soap had weird drops and no soap had increases to make up for those drops.

Next week, the numbers go back up. It won't meabn all of a sudden all the soaps got better. It will mean that this week was one of those weird random samples.

If everything stays weird, then soaps have a problem.

[Angela]

I was just about to bring up that 22,000 factor, GL was inches away from getting more viewers than AMC. How things can suddenly shift, yowsers.