Soap Opera Ratings Race: Good Week For B&B, Bad Week For DAYS

The soap opera ratings race for the week ending September 30 showed great gains for The Bold and the Beautiful over all, and minor gains and losses for the three other soaps.

The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful maintained its perpetual number two spot, pulling in 3,913,000 average viewers overall, while making gains of 230,000 from the week before and 283,000 from the year before. B&B also made gains from the previous week in each female demographic category, and in the 18-34 demo, it picked up viewers from the previous year, as well.

The Young and the Restless
Sister soap The Young and the Restless kept its longtime number one ranking, garnering 4,691,000 average viewers overall, but was down 98,000 from the week before, yet up 79,000 from the same time last year. However, it only made one gain in the female demographic breakdowns, picking up 9,000 viewers from the week before in the 18-34 female demo.

General Hospital
Third-place General Hospital earned 2,703,000 average viewers overall, down 8,000 from the previous week, but up a healthy 103,000 from the previous year. The only categories it made gain in were women 18-49 and 18-34. In the first demo, the ABC soap picked up 7,000 viewers from the previous week, and in the second it gained 8,000 viewers from the week before.

Days of Our Lives
NBC’s Days of Our Lives continued to struggle overall as it remained in fourth place. It garnered 2,213,000 average viewers overall, up 17,000 from the previous week, but down 283,000 from the same time last year. The only other place where the soap made gains was in the female 25-54 demographic, where it was up 2,000 from the week before.