THE NUMBERS

Deadline and The Wrap recently provided some insight into how the three remaining network soap operas are performing relative to their talk show and game show competition, median age and Women 18+ viewers, and also provided some additional details on streaming viewership.

In a report by Deadline, the outlet notes that season-to-date, “General Hospital” is down -9% among Total Viewers compared to the show’s average at the same point last season, dropping to 2.271 million when factoring in most current ratings data (inclusive of Live+7) versus the show’s 2.4 million viewers last season. In Women 18+, the show is down -6% season-over-season, with just 1.675 million viewers in the demographic tuning in versus 1.8 million last season.

At CBS, “The Bold and the Beautiful” is down -12% among Total Viewers with just 2.922 million viewers versus 3.3 million one year earlier, and down another -12% among Women 18+ (2.114 million vs. 2.39 million). “The Young and the Restless” is down a mere -5% in most current viewers with 3.457 million people tuning in on average this season versus 3.6 million last season. Among Women 18+, the show is down -6% in Women 18+ (2.487 million vs. 2.6 million). 

When factoring in streaming across Paramount+, CBS.com and the CBS App, both soaps, along with “The Price is Right” and “Let’s Make a Deal,” are seeing double-digit increases, with “The Young and the Restless” seeing the largest growth, reports TheWrap.

Compared to the show’s performance during the same period last season, the happenings in Genoa City are seen by +28% more viewers than last season among the three services, while “Let’s Make a Deal” is up +20%, “The Bold and the Beautiful” is up +19% and “The Price is Right” is up +15%. Meanwhile, “The Talk” is up just +2%, which can be attributed to the live nature of the daily talk show.

Among the traditional network talk shows, “The View” is up +3% season-over-season, with 2.470 million viewers tuning in versus 2.3 million previously. The show is also up +4% among Women 18+, averaging 1.760 million viewers in the demographic compared to the previous season’s 1.6 million viewers. However, “The Talk” is down -8% among Total Viewers (1.360 million) and down -7% in Women 18+ (0.960 million).

The median age for “General Hospital” is up +4% over last season, going from 65.6 to 68.1, while “The Young and the Restless” is up +1% with a median age of 69.6 versus 68.7 last season and “The Bold and the Beautiful” is up +2% with a median age of 69.4 compared with its 68.2 during the same period, noted Deadline.

By network, CBS continues to lead daytime broadcast with 2.753 million viewers (down -6%), followed by ABC with 2.047 million viewers (down -5%) and NBC with just 1.587 million viewers (down -5%) tuning in. Among Women 18+, CBS is averaging 1.790 million viewers (down -7%), followed by second-place ABC with 1.461 million (down -5%) and NBC with 1.029 million (down -5%).

Although it’s not noted by Deadline, CBS’ average viewership also includes “The Price is Right,” “Let’s Make a Deal” and “The Talk,” while ABC’s average includes “GMA3: What You Need To Know,” which wasn’t referenced in the outlet’s article. NBC’s average is based on “TODAY 3rd Hour,” “TODAY with Hoda & Jenna” and “NBC News Daily.”

Season averages are based on the first 18 weeks of this season (09/25/23 to 01/26/2024) versus the first 19 weeks of the 2022-2023 broadcast television season (09/19/22 to 01/27/2023) with numbers available courtesy of Nielsen.

Note: The Women 18+ demographic makes up the bulk of the total available viewing audience for daytime programming. For a closer look at how the daytime broadcast shows are broken down by demographic, click here.

Figures for “Days of our Lives” are not available as the series is available exclusively on Peacock, which does not provide data on the performance of its shows.