(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — The economy is a bust and we’re in a recession. Advertisers are pulling ad dollars from network television and have instead decided to spend less and fire thousands. With daytime’s audience trending down for more than a decade, 2008 will forever be remembered as the year the daypart finally received its reality check.
So, instead of bringing you a what’s up and what’s down ratings report, we at Soap Opera Network have decided to launch a new feature where we pit soap against soap in the Nielsen Ratings. No, not who is doing better on a week to week basis, but who is the best-of-the-best, only day-by-day.
Without further adieu…
What remains the strory of the year is how low CBS’ “Guiding Light” can fall as it fights to survive and retain its title as broadcasting’s longest running program. With numbers so low (a 1.4 HH rating on Thursday), it would make “Port Charles” look like a ratings winner. Sadly, “Port Charles” was cancelled in 2003 with higher ratings than this despite airing in the wee-hours of the night. While NBC’s “Days of our Lives” loses 40% of its budget in the upcoming year and a loss of its two stars (Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn), three out of its five weekly episodes (Friday, Tuesday, and Monday) outranked every episode of ABC’s “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” The highest episode was its Friday broadcast with 2.9 million viewers. For the week, “DAYS” averaged 2.7 million viewers. “DAYS” is also the only soap to increase viewers year-over-year, gaining 120,000 viewers from the same point last year. “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful” remain daytime’s most watched programs as they hold the 1-5 and 6-10 positions. “Restless,” however has lost the most audience year-over-year with a decline of 630,000 viewers. It’s Women 18-49 ranking, however, remains on par with its year-ago and up a point week-to-week.
After losing the most viewers collectively year-over-year in the early months of ’08, ABC has handed the title off to CBS (207,000 viewers vs 2.1 million viewers). While the minor loss might not be so bad to one just seeing the numbers, it should be noted that the network had already lost millions of viewers by mid-2007. More severe losses would have cost a show its cast and crew.
Daytime Ratings:
Week of December 1, 2008
(in order of Households)
Rank | Network | Show |
Households (Rating/Share; change vs last week/last year) |
Total Viewers (in millions; change vs last week/last year) |
Women 18-49 (Rating/Share; change vs last week/last year) |
1 | CBS | Y&R | 3.6/13 (same/-.4) |
5,016,000 (-93,000/-630,000) | 1.7/11 (+.1/-.1) |
2 | CBS | B&B | 2.7/9 (+.1/-.2) |
3,597,000 (-225,000/-451,000) |
1.3/8 (+.1/-.2) |
3 | ABC | GH | 2.2/7 (same/-.1) |
2,853,000 (-100,000/-115,000) |
1.4/8 (+.1/same) |
4 | CBS | ATWT | 2.0/7 (+.1/-.3) |
2,694,000 (-121,000/-434,000) | 1.1/7 (+.1/-.1) |
5 | NBC | DAYS | 2.0/7 (same/-.1) |
2,736,000 (+5,000/+120,000) | (+.1/same) |
6 | ABC | OLTL | 2.0/7 (-.1/-.1) |
2,618,000 (-142,000/-43,000) |
1.2/7 (same/-.1) |
7 | ABC | AMC | 1.9/7 (-.1/-.1) |
2,541,000 (-217,000/-49,000) | 1.2/7 (same/+.1) |
8 | CBS | GL | 1.5/5 (same/-.4) |
2,011,000 (-181,000/-569,000) | 0.9/5 (+.1/-.2) |
Source: NTI Live+SD
Soap Opera Episode Rankings:
Week of December 1, 2008
(in order of Total Viewers)
Rank | Network |
Show |
Households |
Total Viewers (in millions/rounded) |
Airdate |
1 | CBS | The Young and the Restless |
3.8 | 5,227 (5.2) | Tuesday |
2 | CBS | The Young and the Restless | 3.6 | 5,080 (5.1) | Thursday |
3 | CBS | The Young and the Restless | 3.7 | 5,010 (5.0) | Friday |
4 | CBS | The Young and the Restless | 3.5 | 4,889 (4.9) | Monday |
5 | CBS | The Young and the Restless | 3.5 | 4,874 (4.9) | Wednesday |
6 | CBS | The Bold and the Beautiful |
2.8 |
3,704 (3.7) | Friday |
7 | CBS | The Bold and the Beautiful | 2.6 | 3,602 (3.6) | Thursday |
8 | CBS | The Bold and the Beautiful | 2.6 | 3,593 (3.6) | Monday |
9 | CBS | The Bold and the Beautiful | 2.6 | 3,563 (3.6) | Tuesday |
10 | CBS | The Bold and the Beautiful | 2.6 | 3.523 (3.5) | Wednesday |
11 | ABC | General Hospital |
2.3 | 3,124 (3.1) |
Tuesday |
12 | ABC | General Hospital | 2.3 | 3,035 (3.0) | Monday |
13 | NBC | Days of our Lives |
2.1 |
2,880 (2.9) |
Friday |
14 | NBC | Days of our Lives | 2.1 | 2,806 (2.8) | Tuesday |
15 | CBS |
As The World Turns | 2.1 | 2,787 (2.8) |
Wednesday |
16 | ABC | General Hospital | 2.2 | 2,768 (2.8) | Friday |
17 | CBS | As The World Turns | 2.0 | 2,756 (2.8) | Monday |
17 | ABC | General Hospital | 2.2 | 2,756 (2.8) | Wednesday |
19 | NBC | Days of our Lives | 2.0 | 2,730 (2.7) | Monday |
20 |
ABC | One Life to Live |
2.0 | 2,719 (2.7) |
Tuesday |
21 | ABC | All My Children |
2.1 | 2,714 (2.7) | Monday |
22 | CBS | As The World Turns | 2.0 | 2,711 (2.7) | Tuesday |
23 | ABC | All My Children | 2.0 | 2,696 (2.7) | Tuesday |
24 | ABC | One Life to Live | 2.0 | 2,687 (2.7) | Friday |
25 | CBS | As The World Turns | 2.0 | 2,684 (2.7) | Thursday |
26 | NBC | Days of our Lives | 1.9 | 2,633 (2.6) | Thursday |
27 | NBC | Days of our Lives | 1.9 | 2,630 (2.6) | Wednesday |
28 | ABC | One Life to Live | 2.0 | 2,620 (2.6) | Wednesday |
29 | ABC | One Life to Live | 2.0 | 2,602 (2.6) | Monday |
30 | ABC | General Hospital | 2.0 | 2,584 (2.6) | Thursday |
31 | CBS | As The World Turns | 2.0 | 2,533 (2.5) | Thursday |
32 | ABC | All My Children | 1.9 | 2,494 (2.5) | Wednesday |
33 | ABC | One Life to Live | 1.9 | 2,463 (2.5) | Thursday |
34 | ABC | All My Children | 1.8 | 2,409 (2.4) | Friday |
35 | ABC | All My Children | 1.9 | 2,393 (2.4) | Thursday |
36 | CBS | Guiding Light | 1.5 |
2,147(2.1) | Monday |
37 | CBS | Guiding Light | 1.5 | 2,091 (2.1) | Tuesday |
38 | CBS | Guiding Light | 1.5 | 2,024 (2.0) | Friday |
39 | CBS | Guiding Light | 1.4 | 1,997 (2.0) | Wednesday |
40 | CBS | Guiding Light | 1.4 | 1,839 (1.8) | Thursday |
Legend: | Most Watched Episode |
Least Watched Episode |
Source: NTI Live+SD
For more ratings data: Ratings for the week December 1-5, 2008