SOD is ending it's weekly print edition

[Contessa Donatella]

Oh, lovely. Given the mag's pro-DAYS bias it must have really been a sucky year!

[Gray Bunny]

Really? lol  I guess I could check my storage and find it. I would guess it was a fluff piece that mostly focused on things out of their control, like castmembers leaving and whatnot. 

[AbcNbc247]

 

They called out a lot of bad choices with Eric/Nicole and Daniel/Jennifer. And how stupid it was that John was written back into the show only to be written into a coma. 

Ironically, Sami’s revenge against EJ and Abigail won Best Story that year

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[Errol]

So far, we know that Mara Levinksy is still at Soap Opera Digest based on her reporting on Tyler Christopher's death. Additionally, the website is finally giving bylines to its writers. Chris Eades, who has been working at Soaps In Depth as one of its main writers, is also writing for the Soap Opera Digest website (although I've known that for a while). 

[Contessa Donatella]

Tom Stacy has a 10-31 article byline today. He was a show editor out of CA as far back as 2000. (Y&R I believe.)

 

[AmandainNC28655]

It is sad.  I remember in junior high, walking to my mom's office and stopping by the grocery store on the way and getting the newest edition when it came out and also an afternoon snack. I would then sit at my mom's desk and read it and enjoy my snack, while I waited for her to finish up work. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Yeah, it is sad because it is the end of an era ... again. 

When CBS canceled GL & ATWT it was the end of the very long era of domination of sponsor-owned soap operas. 

When ABC moved AMC & OLTL it was the end of the New York soap scene.

When ABC canceled AMC & OLTL it was the end of the network-owned soap operas because one network owning only one soap isn't really a thing. 

When DAYS moved from NBC to Peacock, broadcast to streaming, it was the first time in approximately 55 years that one of the three major networks was airing no soaps. 

When Soap Opera Digest ceased publishing weekly print editions it was the end of an era in professional soap opera media, as to print editions. 

It is the times we live in. And I for one am glad that many people have reached out for happy memories! 

[Errol]

I'm basing my observation on content not already published in the magazine, past or present issue. Tom's interview with Kristina Wagner was published in the October 30, 2023 issue. His Marie Osmond interview was recently published in the November 6, 2023 issue.

Mara again posted new content with a round-up of posts by people who remembered Tyler Christopher on social media so she's definitely there. Based on today's post about Alan Locher and his upcoming interview with Lauralee Bell and Tricia Cast on his podcast, Devin Owens is also still there. Alan emailed out the info to the press yesterday.

So, to recap:

Mara Levinsky and Devin Owens are officially still around based on current/fresh content. Chris Eades, who primarily writes for the Soaps In Depth website, continues publishing items for the Soap Opera Digest website with his name now appearing on articles. The only change that I've seen besides these is writers of content finally getting recognized for their work. Previously, the website only showed SOD as the author of posts. I've also noticed they are resharing older and newer content multiple times per day on social media channels, similar to Soaps.com, which is SOOOO annoying, but I guess it helps with engagement.

[janea4old]

This is new today Nov. 1st, the details were not in any print edition.
https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/tricia-cast-on-young-and-the-restless-return/

[Errol]

Right. So Devin is definitely still there.

[j swift]

@Errol What do you predict this will mean for the networks when leaking casting or plot information?

Currently, it still seems like SOD or Deadline has a lock on casting news/  But, do you anticipate a time when the PR departments at the various productions will be more equitable in announcing breaking news on other websites?

[Errol]

I expect Deadline, TVLine, TV Insider, PEOPLE, EW and The New Yorker, among others, to become the exclusive home for breaking casting news. Soaps are no different than any other TV show, and those are the places that generally break TV and movie news most frequently. I'd go there if I were a publicist for one of the shows, even though I personally hate when they do because it hurts my bottom line -- just being honest.

That being said, despite no longer publishing a weekly print magazine, I don't expect Digest to go cold turkey in terms of news. However, I don't expect them to publish anything more than what they already did on the website in the past, mixed in with interviews here and there every week.

The only area that I'll miss is the comings & goings section. Many of us in the soap industry relied upon that section for news, some more so than others since they never credited Digest for the information they posted when they'd do their news items before most everyone else got their copies of the mag (tangent over).

One of the main reasons I was told that Digest still got a lot of the things they did was solely because they were the last remaining print mag, and obviously, a publicist would want their talent on the cover of such. But without the print edition, as I said before, the magazine is now no more important than our message boards. I don't mean to sound rude when I say that, but based on external traffic data and SEO rankings I've obtained, I can tell you which soap sites are more popular than others and Digest isn't number 1 or even number 5 on the list. Digest is usually 6th or 7th in that regard. Soaps In Depth's website is usually ahead of Digest and in no particular order, so are Soap Opera Network, SoapHub, Daytime Confidential, Soap Central, and She Knows Soaps. Keep in mind data fluctuates from week to week but that's usually the most popular soap opera sites in terms of traffic and rankings.

[Soapsuds]

Ooooooooo

SON is in the top 5 in the ratings?

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[Contessa Donatella]

This is an interesting read.

https://jenniferkathlengibbons.substack.com/p/friday-edition-au-revoir-soap-opera

[dragonflies]