The obituary was apparently written long ago. I published daytime numbers for a few months or so, and then I just stopped. Our access was somewhat limited, and even on “we’re OLD and we know it CBS” who typically has the largest share of the daytime audience, we were only looking at around 4 million viewers for the daypart, of which, less than 25% of them were typically in the 18-49 range. ABC and NBC typically had fewer viewers overall, but a few more in the 18-49 year old demographic.
But even posts from a couple of months ago still get some traffic and we did get a few requests to see the information so Bill G. started posting it again as of this week.
While things haven’t changed much from a couple of months ago (things seem a little worse, but not much) some of the comments the post generated were very interesting. Specifically some posts from reader “Doug” who also used to run a ratings based web site.
Doug chimed in with some historical data from slightly less than 6 years ago. Since that time, Days of Our lives is down 44% overall , 52% among 18-49 year old women and a stunning 74% among women 18-34. 74% in just six years. The tombstone will read: “Young women no longer watched”. The sands in the hourglass appear to most definitely be running out for Days of Our Lives
No soap has bucked this trend completely, though some are better than others. Older women are hanging on to All My Children and General Hospital which dropped only 37% and 31% respectively overall, but in the female age demos they’re down more. All My Children has lost roughly 43% of its 18-49 year old female base and a whopping 62% of its 18-34 year old females.
Erica Kane just ain’t what she used to be.
Bold & The Beautiful may be holding up better overall, and in the 18-49 demo, where it’s lost 25% and 23% of its overall and 18-49 year old female base respectively since 2002, it still has lost 50% of its female 18-34 year old audience.
As the World Turns and Young and The Restless outperform the field in terms of youth drop, being down 29% and 17% overall respectively, but down “only” 19% and 15% among 18-49 year old women. Among women 18-34 they’re down 30% and 37%.
Their problem is their demographic is changing. They don’t count the over 49 crowd who are still faithful and savvy!
Their problem is their demographic is changing. They don't count the over 49 crowd who are still faithful and savvy!
Also, the NYC CBS soaps have gone to a new shooting format now with digital video cameras and more hand held stuff, that they thought would draw a more youthful audience.
Problem is their existing viewers just can’t stand the handheld camerawork.
Also, the NYC CBS soaps have gone to a new shooting format now with digital video cameras and more hand held stuff, that they thought would draw a more youthful audience.
Problem is their existing viewers just can't stand the handheld camerawork.
You know that a show skews old when people complain on message boards about the “shaky camera”
You know that a show skews old when people complain on message boards about the “shaky camera”
Maybe their new target audience should be young gay men… I’m sure the ratings would go up if they all included some gay couples with their drama, which is just as wild as the hetereos!
Maybe their new target audience should be young gay men… I'm sure the ratings would go up if they all included some gay couples with their drama, which is just as wild as the hetereos!
what I feel is happening, is that the same old
stories are being told over and over…the writers have run out of ideas, which in turn
has driven them to do outlandish storylines,
that have driven viewers away. Days is the worst, Marlena being possesed, the woman in white, and the mud woman…just could not take it any more. After watching the show since 1970 or so, I stopped tuning in. Bring back old fashioned family twists and turns, bring
back Doug and Julie, and return to the Horton
family. Another problem with dayimte..it has
lost its credability, because every actor who
is killed off the shows, ends up coming back.
People lose their belief in their programs
because, why weep for a character, when you can
believe the character will be back in a few months, or a year..
what I feel is happening, is that the same old
stories are being told over and over…the writers have run out of ideas, which in turn
has driven them to do outlandish storylines,
that have driven viewers away. Days is the worst, Marlena being possesed, the woman in white, and the mud woman…just could not take it any more. After watching the show since 1970 or so, I stopped tuning in. Bring back old fashioned family twists and turns, bring
back Doug and Julie, and return to the Horton
family. Another problem with dayimte..it has
lost its credability, because every actor who
is killed off the shows, ends up coming back.
People lose their belief in their programs
because, why weep for a character, when you can
believe the character will be back in a few months, or a year..