Soap Opera Ratings Race: Continued Declines With Little Good News

The soap opera ratings race for the week ending May 5 show that the year 2017 is just not it for soaps. With so much non-stop real-life drama, perhaps viewers don’t know whether to turn to CNN or their daytime faves.

The Young and the Restless
While The Young and the Restless (YR) retained its number-one spot, pulling in 4,165,000 viewers, it lost 183,000 viewers from the week before and an astonishing nearly three-quarters of a million viewers from the same time last year.

Y&R also lost viewers in each demographic, setting a new low rating with women 18-49.

The Bold and the Beautiful
Sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful (BB) also had a bad week, garnering 3,347,000 viewers overall on average. It was down 209,000 from the previous week and nearly half a million viewers from the previous year.

Like Y&R, B&B also lost viewers in all three female demographics, with it, too, setting a record low for women 18-49.

General Hospital
General Hospital (GH) came in third of four soaps as per usual with 2,446,000 viewers overall on average. Unlike B&B and Y&R, it gained viewers from the week before (46,000), but lost 249,000 from the same time last year.

The only female demo in which GH made gains was with women 25-54, where it was up 16,000 from the previous week.

Days of Our Lives
Days of Our Lives (DOOL) came in last once again, with 2,068,000 viewers overall, up a mere 6,000 from the week before, but a whole 160,000 from the year before.

The only female demo in which DAYS made gains was with 18-49, where it was up 8,000 from the week before.

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