Soap Opera Ratings Race: General Hospital Flies While The Young and the Restless Falls

The soap opera ratings race for the week ending December 8 sees one soap’s numbers take flight and another soap’s continue to fall.

General Hospital
General Hospital (GH) has had quite a renaissance since Chris Van Etten took over as head writer, and in fact had its best week yet overall earlier this month.

GH pulled in 2,900,000 viewers on average overall, up 209,000 from the week before and 248,000 from the year before. GH was also the number one soap in two out of the three female demographics, beating Y&R with women 18-49 and 18-34.

The Young and the Restless
Meanwhile, the number one-rated The Young and the Restless (YR) garnered 4,476,000 viewers on average overall, down 9,000 from the previous week and 183,000 from the previous year.

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

The Bold and the Beautiful
Sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful (BB) maintained its number two spot, pulling in 3,603,000 viewers on average overall, up 14,000 from the prior week, yet down 142,000 from the prior year.

Like Y&R, B&B also lost viewers from the previous week and previous year in all three women’s demos.

Days of Our Lives
Days of Our Lives (DOOL) took last place once again, garnering 2,318,000 viewers on average overall, down 80,000 from the week before, but up 32,000 from the year before.

DAYS also lost from the prior week and prior year in all three female demos, with GH as the only soap to make any gains in those categories.