Soap Opera Ratings Race: All Four Soaps Take a Year-End Hit

The soap opera ratings race for the week ending December 22 saw the numbers seemingly bottom out for all four daytime dramas.

The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless remained number one, but took the biggest hit. It garnered 4,331,000 viewers on average overall, down 225,000 from the week before and a whopping 397,000 from the year before.

Y&R also lost viewers from the prior week and prior year in all four female demographics.

Days of Our Lives
In fact, the only soap to make any gains in the demos or anywhere for that matter was Days of Our Lives, which is perpetually in last place. DAYS gained 9,000 from the week before with women 18-34

Overall, DAYS pulled in 2,324,000 viewers on average, down 6,000 from the previous week and 132,000 from the previous year. This was the smallest loss among all four soaps.

The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful took the number two spot, garnering 3,506,000 viewers on average overall. B&B was down 18,000 from the prior week and 276,000 from the same time last year.

B&B also remained in third place in the demos, where it’s been for the last several weeks.

General Hospital
General Hospital took third place overall and second place in the female demographics, which seems to be a trend. It pulled in 2,324,000 viewers on average overall, down 113,000 from the week before and 10,000 from the year before.

Perhaps holiday stories just weren’t intriguing enough this year or people were too busy with their own holiday plans and shopping. Here’s hoping for a better 2018 in terms of soap Nielsen ratings.