Bad News for Y&R in the Soap Opera Ratings Race

While all shows were down overall from the week before in the soap opera ratings race for the week ending August 5, The Young and the Restless took the biggest hit in the coveted 18-49 female demographic.

The Young and the Restless
The CBS soap remained number one as it has for decades, but tied for its low in the 18-49 demo, pulling in 572,000 viewers, down 21,000 from the previous week and 159,000 from the previous year. Overall, the show was down 34,000 average viewers from the week before and 159,000 viewers from the year before.

The Bold and the Beautiful
Sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful made some gains. It garnered 3,639,000 viewers overall, down 47,000 from the previous week, but up 130,000 from the previous year. In the 18-49 demo, it gained 60,000 viewers from the previous week, but lost 9,000 from the year before.

General Hospital
Third place soap General Hospital pulled in an average of 2,589,000 viewers overall. However, that was down 89,000 from the week before and up 130,000 from the same week last year. In the 18-49 demo, it lost 6,000 viewers from the week before, but was up 17,000 from the year before.

Days of Our Lives
Perpetually last place Days of Our Lives didn’t tie for any new lows as it had done in previous weeks, but it did lose 7,000 viewers overall from the week before and 221,000 from the year before. In the 18-49 demographic, it gained 14,000 viewers from the previous week, yet lost 108,000 from the previous year.

With DAYS off for two weeks due to the Summer Olympics, it won’t be included in the next two weeks of ratings calculations.