ARTICLE: ‘General Hospital’ Stable Among Total Viewers Despite Wild Card Series Coverage On ABC – RATINGS

[Errol]

Week two of the 2025-2026 television season saw most shows up week-to-week in the key sales demographics across daytime broadcast. Meanwhile, among Total Viewers, “Beyond the Gates,” “The Young and the Restless” and “NBC News Daily” were the only programs to see week-to-week increases.

During the week of September 29-October 3, 2025, “The Price is Right” remained on top with both half-hours seeing the largest week-to-week gains across the board, up +0.05 for the second half-hour and +0.04 for the first half-hour among Women 18-49, and up +0.04 each among Women 25-54. Elsewhere, the second half-hour of “Let’s Make a Deal” saw a minor uptick of +0.01 among Women 18-49, while the first half-hour remained flat with one week earlier. Among Women 25-54, the second half-hour was up +0.03 week-to-week (0.37 rating vs. 0.34 rating) and up +0.02 year-over-year (0.37 rating vs. 0.35 rating). The second half-hour ranked third in both demos.

“The View” continued to perform well for ABC, ranking among the top five highest-rated shows in Women 18-49 and Women 25-54 every week since the launch of Season 29 (Week of September 8-12, 2025). In fact, the talk show is the only daytime broadcast series to see year-over-year growth every single week since its premiere. The veteran ranked fourth among Women 18-49 with a 0.21 rating, flat with the previous week and up +0.02 year-over-year. Meanwhile, among Women 25-54, the program tied with “The Bold and the Beautiful” for fifth place, each with a 0.32 rating. “The View” was up +0.01 week-to-week and +0.03 year-over-year.

Despite being preempted for three consecutive days due to ABC’s coverage of Major League Baseball Wild Card Series games (Playoffs), “General Hospital” managed to hold up relatively well among Total Viewers for the two original episodes that aired. The long-running series averaged 1.902 million viewers, down -95,000 viewers week-to-week. Demographically, things were a bit confusing.

In markets not impacted by the games, which started after 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT, repeats of “General Hospital” aired. While Nielsen appears to have factored the repeat broadcasts into the show’s weekly average among Women 18-49 (0.10 rating) and Women 25-54 (0.14 rating), resulting in the daytime soap opera ranking last across daytime broadcast, its result among Total Viewers indicates Nielsen did exclude the show in part, particularly with its performance among Households (1.2 rating) and viewers as the show remained on par with recent averages. Take that for what you will.

Wrap-Up

What follows is a breakdown of how the daytime broadcast shows performed during the week of September 29-October 3, 2025 among Women 18-49 rating, Women 25-54 rating, Households and Total Viewers, including week-to-week and year-over-year comparisons.

Note*: Figures under the 2024 column for “Beyond the Gates” are compared to the performance of the former time slot occupant, “The Talk.” “TODAY with Jenna & Friends” is compared with the performance of its predecessor, “TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.” Meanwhile, “GMA3” is compared with the performance of its predecessor, “GMA3: What You Need to Know.”

Last Week and 2024 columns are based on Nielsen Panel-only data. Comparisons under the 2024 column among Households and Total Viewers were unavailable to this publication for most daytime broadcast shows until at least February 2025.

“General Hospital” aired Wild Card Series games during the same week in 2024 (Week of September 28-October 2, 2025). The network will no longer carry game coverage after the 2025 season.

Week of September 29-October 3, 2025 Rankers

Women 18-49 Rating

Rank / Show / Network	This Week	Last Week	2024*
1. The Price is Right 2 (CBS)	0.31	0.26	0.34
2. The Price is Right 1 (CBS)	0.28	0.24	0.34
3. Let’s Make a Deal 2 (CBS)	0.23	0.22	0.23
4. The View (ABC)	0.21	0.21	0.19
5. TODAY 3rd Hour (NBC)	0.20	0.20	0.28
6. TODAY with Jenna & Friends (NBC)	0.19	0.22	0.22*
— The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	0.19	0.20	0.22
8. The Young and the Restless (CBS)	0.18	0.17	0.23
— Let’s Make a Deal 1 (CBS)	0.18	0.18	0.21
10. Beyond the Gates (CBS)	0.13	0.14	0.16*
— NBC News Daily (NBC)	0.13	0.11	0.18
12. GMA3 (ABC)	0.12	0.13	0.14*
13. General Hospital (ABC)	0.10*	0.18	0.16*

General Hospital (Excluding Repeats) – Women 18-49 Rating*

Show / Network	This Week	Last Week	2024*
General Hospital (ABC)	0.15	0.18	0.16

Women 25-54 Rating

Rank / Show / Network	This Week	Last Week	2024*
1. The Price is Right 2 (CBS)	0.52	0.48	0.52
2. The Price is Right 1 (CBS)	0.47	0.43	0.49
3. Let’s Make a Deal 2 (CBS)	0.37	0.34	0.35
4. The Young and the Restless (CBS)	0.34	0.32	0.42
5. The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	0.32	0.31	0.34
— The View (ABC)	0.32	0.31	0.29
7. TODAY 3rd Hour (NBC)	0.31	0.34	0.42
8. Let’s Make a Deal 1 (CBS)	0.30	0.29	0.32
9. TODAY with Jenna & Friends (NBC)	0.28	0.35	0.34*
10. Beyond the Gates (CBS)	0.24	0.23	0.23*
11. NBC News Daily (NBC)	0.20	0.19	0.25
12. GMA3 (ABC)	0.15	0.18	0.21*
13. General Hospital (ABC)	0.14*	0.25	0.25*

General Hospital (Excluding Repeats) – Women 25-54 Rating*

Show / Network	This Week	Last Week	2024*
General Hospital (ABC)	0.23	0.25	0.25

Households

Rank / Show / Network	This Week	Last Week	2024*
1. The Price is Right 2 (CBS)	2.4	2.4	N/A
2. The Price is Right 1 (CBS)	2.1	2.2	N/A
3. The Young and the Restless (CBS)	1.8	1.8	N/A
4. The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	1.6	1.6	N/A
— The View (ABC)	1.6	1.6	1.7
6. Let’s Make a Deal 2 (CBS)	1.4	1.5	N/A
7. General Hospital (ABC)	1.2	1.3	N/A
— Let’s Make a Deal 1 (CBS)	1.2	1.3	N/A
— TODAY 3rd Hour (NBC)	1.2	1.2	1.2
10. Beyond the Gates (CBS)	1.0	1.0	0.8*
11. NBC News Daily (NBC)	0.9	0.8	0.8
12. TODAY with Jenna & Friends (NBC)	0.8	0.9	0.9*
— GMA3 (ABC)	0.8	0.9	N/A*

Total Viewers (In Millions)

Rank / Show / Network	This Week	Last Week	2024*
1. The Price is Right 2 (CBS)	3,949	4,081	N/A
2. The Price is Right 1 (CBS)	3,464	3,560	N/A
3. The Young and the Restless (CBS)	2,859	2,850	N/A
4. The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS)	2,555	2,580	N/A
5. The View (ABC)	2,391	2,404	2,449
6. Let’s Make a Deal 2 (CBS)	2,335	2,405	N/A
7. Let’s Make a Deal 1 (CBS)	1,995	2,062	N/A
8. General Hospital (ABC)	1,902	1,997	N/A
9. TODAY 3rd Hour (NBC)	1,807	1,861	1,835
10. Beyond the Gates (CBS)	1,560	1,546	1,166*
11. TODAY with Jenna & Friends (NBC)	1,341	1,374	1,323*
12. NBC News Daily (NBC)	1,315	1,276	1,180
13. GMA3 (ABC)	1,212	1,377	1,315*

The numbers above are calculated using Live+Same Day, Big Data + Panel viewing and DVR playback, defined as 3:00 a.m.-3:00 a.m., and are courtesy of Nielsen. Ratings are the percentage of TV viewers in the U.S. who tuned into a specific television program.

Beginning August 31, 2020, national ratings include Out of Home (OOH) viewing. Previously, ratings did not include OOH viewing. Averages are based on regular telecasts.

LEGEND

P = Premiere	R = Repeat	S = Special
NR = Not Rated / Not Ranked	N/A = Not Available	* denotes further information

Summary (Preemptions/Schedule Changes)*

• “Beyond the Gates” was broken out on Friday, October 3 due to a CBS News special report on the sentencing of Sean Combs.
• “General Hospital” was preempted and aired amended repeats on Tuesday, September 30; Wednesday, October 1; and Thursday, October 2 due to ABC’s coverage of the MLB Playoffs/Wild Card Series games. The show’s weekly average among the key demos is based on five days, per Nielsen. At the same time, Total Viewers and Households are based on original broadcasts only (Monday, September 29 and Friday, October 3).
• “GMA3” aired amended broadcasts on Tuesday, September 30; Wednesday, October 1; and Thursday, October 2 due to ABC’s coverage of the MLB Playoffs/Wild Card Series games. which are excluded from the show’s weekly average. The news program’s weekly average is based on two days (Monday, September 29 and Friday, October 3).

Note: The post ‘General Hospital’ Stable Among Total Viewers Despite Wild Card Series Coverage On ABC – RATINGS first appeared on Soap Opera Network.

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[Maxim]

I expect a rise in BTG in the weeks to come. Fingers crossed. Thank you @Errol!!!

[bongobong]

A new low for BTG in W18-49, and the second time this season it was below The Talk's year ago rating in that demo. Only 0.01 over The Talk year-over-year in W25-54. Fairly sure it's the lowest retention yet in the former demo, holding only 68% from Bold.

The last time the show grew its demos when Bold went down was the week of June 23rd, a feat it hasn't accomplished since. Why is that date significant?  Because it was the week before its first full week of repeats. It has been over 3 months now. I've seen enough to say with some certainty that those repeat weeks broke the pattern of same-day watching for a not insignificant number of its younger viewers.

[Soapsuds]

Looney Tunes continues to not bring in viewers on Bold.

BTG numbers are bad.

[BoldRestless]

Thanks for that analysis. 

[Melroser]

Not great numbers for BTG. I hope the Hayley/Randy twist as well as additions of Isaiah and Greg Vaughan's character will help give the show a spark. This week has been pretty good. 

[Maxim]

That's my hope too. They had a rough period, but seem to be going out of it.