'B&B' Ranks Number One In Viewers, All Demos For the First Time Ever

THE NUMBERS

For the first time ever, CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful” ranked number in Total Viewers and all key sales demos, including Women 18-49, Women 25-54 and Women 18-34, during the week of March 16-20, 2020. The soap beat out perennial leader “The Young and the Restless,” which placed second in households and Women 18-34. “General Hospital” placed second to “B&B” in Women 18-49 and Women 25-54. “B&B” had the largest increase in viewers, and was joined only by “GH” in increasing its viewership numbers year-to-year.

The week featured several preemptions due to coronavirus coverage on the major networks.

With 3.62 million viewers, “B&B” topped “Y&R” by 175,000 viewers (3,620,000 vs. 3,445,000 in actuals) for the week to overtake its lead-in for the number one spot. The series gained 405,000 viewers compared to the week prior and 61,000 viewers over the same week last year. “Y&R” was down 249,000 viewers week-to-week and lost a hefty 1.2 million viewers over the same week last year (-1,163,000 in actuals). “GH” held onto the third spot with 2.5 million viewers tuned in (2,471,000 in actuals), an increase of 365,000 week-to-week and +130,000 compared to the same week last year.

Placing fourth in all categories,”Days of our Lives” also saw a spike in viewers. The soap averaged 2.1 million viewers for the week (2,089,000 in actuals), adding 242,000 viewers week-to-week but down 39,000 viewers compared to the same week last year.

In Women 18-49, “B&B” ranked number one with 371,000 viewers compared to second place “GH” with its 335,000 viewers. In Women 25-54, “B&B” placed first with 545,000 viewers to second place “GH” with 479,000 viewers. In Women 18-34, “B&B” placed first with 88,000 viewers, just 2,000 more than second-place “Y&R” (88,000 vs 86,000).

*Note: “B&B” and “GH” were preempted nationally on Monday, March 16 due to coronavirus coverage. “Y&R” aired for only 22 minutes nationally on Tuesday, March 17, and had just 2.93 million viewers tuned in for that duration (2,934,000 in actuals). On Thursday, March 19, “Y&R” aired for just 4 minutes nationally, wherein it received a huge bounce in viewership: 4.3 million viewers were counted (4,271,000 in actuals). “Y&R” was preempted nationally on Friday, March 20. “DAYS” aired for just 39 minutes on Mon, 3/16; 49 minutes on Tues, 3/17; 31 minutes on Wed, 3/18.

Source: Nielsen Media Research.

The full ratings report will be published shortly.