Soap Opera Ratings Race: Two Soaps Make BIG Leaps

The soap opera ratings race for the week ending March 16 see good news for two soaps that have had too much bad news of late.

The Young and the Restless
The perpetually number-one rated The Young and the Restless (YR) looks to be coming out of its ratings doldrums.

The CBS soap that celebrates 45 years on the air this week garnered 4,401,000 viewers on average overall, up 136,000 from the week before, but down 26,000 from the year before.

Y&R also made gains from the previous week in all three coveted female demographics.

The Bold and the Beautiful
Sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful made had the best week of all four soaps, in terms of number improvements. It pulled in 3,713,000 viewers on average overall, up 167,000 from the prior week and 176,000 from the prior year.

In fact, B&B was the only soap that made gains from both the prior week and prior year. It also made gains from the week before in all three female demos.

General Hospital
General Hospital (GH) maintained its third place ranking and took quite a dip from earlier in the year. The soap that turns 55 this week garnered 2,580,000 viewers on average overall, down 109,000 from the week before and 137,000 from the year before.

It also lost its second place spot with women 18-49 and 25-54, but remained in second place with women 18-34.

Days of Our Lives
Days of Our Lives (DOOL) also saw a drop from the previous week and previous year, but the drop was modest and not nearly as steep as GH’s.

DAYS pulled in 2,319,000 viewers on average overall, down just 1,000 from the prior week, and 20,000 from the same time last year. The soap made no gains at all in any of the female demos.