Soap Opera Ratings Race: Bad News As One Soap Hits All-Time Low

The soap opera ratings race for the week ending July 21 finds one soap in trouble in a key demographics–during a week when things should have been looking up.

Days of Our Lives
Days of Our Lives (DOOL) remained in fourth place out of four soaps, hitting a new low with women 18-49. Overall, it pulled in 1,975,000 viewers on average, down 110,000 from the week before and 185,000 from the year before.

It was also down all around in all female demographics.

This was the week Ron Carlivati’s much-anticipated scripts began airing, but they did not debut until mid-week and DAYS was interrupted on Thursday in many markets for the OJ Simpson parole hearing.

The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless (YR) took the number one spot as usual, garnering 4,458,000 viewers on average overall, down 20,000 from the week before and 167,000 from the year before.

The only place where Y&R made gains was with women 18-49 and 25-54, where it was slightly up from the previous week.

The Bold and the Beautiful
Sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful (BB) was the only show to make overall gains, pulling in 3,476,000 viewers on average, up 16,000 from the previous week, but down 176,000 from the same time last year.

Like Y&R, B&B also made gains from the week before with women 19-49 and 25-54.

General Hospital
General Hospital (GH) also had a disappointing week, garnering 2,359,000 viewers on average overall, down 51,000 from the previous week and 171,000 from the previous year.

The only place where GH made any gains was with women 18-34, where it was up a small 6,000 viewers from the week before.

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