Josef Adalian has the scoop on numbers for Let’s Make a Deal after it’s first couple of weeks of replacing Guiding Light. The ratings are up, but it seems that the increases are mostly made up of older viewers:
Well, after two weeks of episodes, “Deal” is drawing a few more viewers than “GL” overall, up 7 percent in overall households (1.6/5) vs. the soap’s 2008-09 average (1.5/5).
But it looks like most of those extra viewers are older. In the key daytime demographics of women 18-49 (0.7/4) and 25-54 (0.8/5), “Deal” is down 13 percent and 20 percent, respectively, compared with the “GL” average. The gameshow is flat vs. “GL” with women 18-34.
Not surprisingly, because it’s not a soap opera, “Deal” has ticked up a tenth of a ratings point in all the key male demos.
read the rest on The Wrap
Adalian considers that “Deal” isn’t a bust, nor a breakout hit, but notes that CBS sent out a press release about The Price is Right getting its highest ratings in a year and it’s no coincidence that “Deal” is TPIR’s new lead-in.
When you consider that it costs less than Guiding Light, that its ratings are about the same and that so far it’s a better lead-in for TPIR, the early signs are that this was a good “Deal” for CBS.
It was brought in to do way better than Guiding Light. That’s nothing to gloat about. Its down in the demos, that’s an area where CBS thought they could improve.
Its already a failure for CBS, it looks like the affiliates will be taking over that slot pretty soon.
you wouldn’t happen to be a GL fan who was upset that a series that had a 4,732 year run got canceled?
Don’t tell me the GL fans will be the new Moonlight fans…..
i’m not a gl fan… i don’t watch soaps… i actually love game shows… and it’s pretty clear lower demo ratings is not good. you guys post ad nauseum about demos demos demos… seems to be important only when it fits something you care about. i hope deal works or they give it to some other game show. maybe something new… there’s a thought. i’d hate to see it go back to affiliates.
Just like with DVR gains, this is a trick of looking at percentages and thinking it means something huge, when, if you look at the raw numbers, this isn’t that big a difference. If it’s down 13% in W18-49 and now at 0.7, GL was at 0.8. 20% in W25-54 means it is currently 0.8, and GL was 1.0. These aren’t huge losses. If it’s pretty much on par with what GL was in those two demos, but improved in other demos (all male demos) and it boosts Price is Right, how is that a loss?
But Guiding Light aired at different times in different markets. The nonsteady time slot affected it greatly as did not airing with the other soaps in many markets. If B&B didn’t get a Y&R lead in, it would probably disappear in two years max. Don’t let the Emmy fool you, Its Passions type ridiculous half the time.
B&B is one of the top soaps across the world. When I was in Germany, it aired in the evening and many people I met told me that they loved the show.
Now Jasmine, your point about Passions-type storylines are unfounded. I don’t think anything can touch the crazy that was Passions. Right now on B&B, one character is struggling with the effects of a stroke, a fashion company is losing their business because of a declining economy, young/old couple is struggling because the younger man wants a child and the older woman does not. I don’t think these storylines are out of the realm of reality. Do you?
“Deal” is down 13% and 20% in key demos? GL’s numbers were miniscule. CBS can’t be pleased regardless of Deal’s overall ratings going “up” to 1.6 from 1.5.
LOL I guess I’m the only one who still misses Passions, eh?
I don’t believe LMAD is the lead-in for TPIR across the nation. It has the same wacky schedule as GL. (Some stations air at 10/9am; others at 3/2.)
Isn’t the point of Lets Make a Deal is that it’s much cheaper than a soap and is more compatible to The Price is Right. I expect it will run for a while and then be replaced with either another gameshow or something involving CBS talent.
I don’t know that Deal could be called that much of a success, with those numbers. Though being cheaper than GL is a big advantage. Maybe the ratings will drop, too, if some viewers initially turned in out of curiosity and then quit. Not that it matters much at this point.
And I miss Passions. That was one crazy, fun show! Of course, GL had a wacky clone story of its own, and Reva and the painting, and Reva the ghost. Hmm, the weirdest GL plots all seemed to center around Reva.
B&B has been hugely popular in the world market. I don’t really get it myself, since it’s never been one of my favorites, but it’s good to see any soap being that successful.
That guy with the jack-o-lantern mask in the picture is terrifying!
That’s interesting. In my area, it doesn’t come on until 2pm (after all the soaps). I checked out a few of the shows and actually liked it. Although, it would be nice to see some original ideas for game shows.
I know Monty Hall. Well, not personally. But I do know that Wayne Brady is NO Monty Hall!
There’s just something off about this iteration that is similar to what was wrong with Whammy! All the elements are there but the host just doesn’t connect or have the charisma.
It depends on who is looking at the numbers. “Maybe” CBS is pulling in older viewers by changing to game shows…but that, in itself, is detrimental to CBS. Those old game show watchers are going to die. So, instead of having young people watching CBS and continuing to watch CBS as they grow older, CBS said screw you to GL fans and went with the old game show route. CBS hasn’t been on in my house since the last day GL aired. Goodbye to a nothing station!
Y&R has lost its big star. Come November after three decades Eric Braden (Victor Newman) will leave the show.
The Daytime Drama Soap is on its way out. Guiding Light was wanning for quite some time. A game show like “Lets Make a Deal” is less costly to produce and I do agree that this run will not eclpse GL in anyway. It will still good have a good run of maybe three to five years.
I predicted awhile back to myself that GL would have end sometime in 2010.
The only reason why B&B did not get expanded to an hour is because the half format works very well for the show it is. It is quite popular in the international market than most of the other American Daytime dramas including Y&R which takes place in the same TV universe.
I now believe that “As the World Turns” is now coming to its end as well. The TV landscape has changed and the Indefant Daytime Drama is not part of it.
The Soap Opera will always be an genue of TV for years to come. However that will come in the forms of Latin Telenovals and Prime Time shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and even The Tudors.
Lets not forget the classics like Dallas, Dyansty, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, and Pyton Place.
It’s DEFINITELY misleading to refer to LMAD as TPIR’s lead-in. The Wrap article says it is in ‘many markets’, but in the vast majority of the country, GL/LMAD airs at 3pm ET/PT or 2pm CT/MT.
It seems quite unlikely that higher ratings for TPIR would be related to LMAD.
And yes I am still angry about the cancellation of GL.
Mtto, while it’s true LMAD isn’t TPIR’s lead-in everywhere (it isn’t where I live), it IS in New York and Los Angeles, the #1 and #2 markets. When it comes to ratings impact, it’s not really misleading to say LMAD is TPIR’s lead-in.
And let’s face it, even if I hadn’t said it you’d still be angry that CBS canceled a show with a 4,732 year run!
I loved Let’s Make a Deal back in the 70s but this new one is mad awful. The only good thing about it is Wayne Brady and he could do better than that garbage.
As for GL with it being on the air that long it should get revived in the future either in syndication or on cable.
I honestly believe once most of the remaining soaps die, daytime will die with it.
@Robert
Turns out LMAD is currently the lead-in in Chicago and Philly, too. I stand corrected and will now continue with my sulking – but not before pointing out that CBS moving GL to mornings at its O&O contributed to the show’s death.
I’ll move on eventually…
love wayne brady…the show, not so much.
Here in Cleveland GL used to air at 3pm until its last episode. The next week when CBS started airing TPIR reruns and now LMAD, it was moed to 10am.
Lets Make A Deal makes more sense as a morning show, but Guiding Light NEVER did. CBS must offer it to affiliates at either 10 am (9 Central) or 3 pm (2 Central). Houston airs LMAD at 2 Central, just as it did Guiding Light.
Soaps had better hope it fails, or they will be replace by crap like this.
Mtto, I agree, when they moved GL away from the other soaps, they impacted the ratings quite a bit. Actually it was more than that – not with soaps, in some markets it could air in the early AM hours, in other markets, they would air episodes a day behind. It was pretty scattered. When it was on at 3pm in most markets, it was better all around. CBS handled the scheduling of it poorly in the last decade or so.
I’m glad B&B is successful in international markets, but its a US production. In the US, its ratings would take a serious hit without the Y&R lead-in. I’m sure it only matters so much how successful it is elsewhere if they are looking to trim the fat. And CBS hasn’t made it a secret that they are probably getting out of the daytime business sooner than later (GL being a good example because their advertiser wanted the show to continue). Maybe B&B is a candidate for syndication so it can air internationally.
Also, hate to tell B&B fans, but if you watch The Soup, the same way they used to show ridiculous storylines on Passions, they show the ridiculous storylines on B&B. I’m not saying its as bad as Passions, but I’d say it has a few hints of it.
Passions was crazy-good. Passions was loved as much as it was hated.
Never seen LMAD- Guiding Light was okay but it should have ended with ATWT in 2010.
With B&B, Y&R and DAYS, I always thought that that profit was made on the overseas sales, they never covered the actual costs themselves, hence the recent cost cutting in recent years.
LMAD wasn’t brought in to do “way better” than GL; the person who said that is completely misinformed. LMAD was brought in to be “way cheaper” than GL. Now, it is getting roughly the same ratings as GL, at a much lower cost. This equals larger profits. So far, it’s a success.
no, wayne brady is not Monty Hall, but he hosts the show in his own style. yes, it’s pretty much the same format as the 70’s, and it works in 2009. anything is better than the nbc revival in primetime of a few years back. and, the ratings will grow if the program is allowed to remain on the air.
i watched the last episode of the guiding light: can anybody tell me what that show was about? random scenes of one line each, no acting, no scenery, no lighting, no wardrobe. this is a soap opera?