TVRG Ratings Library -- Daytime Soaps

Written Profiling an Unkillable Genre's Ratings by Bridger Cunningham

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Behold the latest installment in TV Ratings Guide's Ratings Library Anthology.

Soap are often mocked for their campiness and asinine dialogue.  However, they are a durable genre which miraculously survived a deliberate purge in the late 2000's/early 2010's.  Once striking its zenith with 19 entries in the 1969-70 season, 2012 onward has featured four durable survivors.  Along the way, nine contenders were crowned 1st place, with The Young and the Restless carrying the crown for a current 29-year run, followed closely by defunct As the World Turns owning the title for 20 years and General Hospital taking an honorable 9 years.

Soaps went through a cavalcade of evolution.  The 50's started by carrying radio soaps over to television, with only Guiding Light surviving the transition.  This decade funded production with product placement sponsors such as Proctor and Gamble, and all of course advertising household soaps.  The 60's featured NBC and ABC entering the arena, and geometry lessons built viewers as NBC launched its soap blocks to prominence with popular love triangles.  The 70's sought relevance and youth, followed by the 80's displaying, glamour, glitz and action-adventure capers.  The genre peaked by 1994, and the OJ Simpson trial of 1995 offset the eternal decline in Nielsen's.  The 2000's and 2010's featured the endings of several franchises which spanned multiple decades, and yet a scant four still remain.  Enjoy the ensemble of Nielsen data.

This, along with other diverse entries of ratings data can be found in the TVRG Ratings Library, located at the following link: http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2018/01/tvrg-ratings-library.html 

1950-58 -- The Beginnings on CBS


1950-51 COMING SOON
1951-52 COMING SOON
1952-53 COMING SOON
1953-54 COMING SOON
1954-55 COMING SOON
1955-56 
COMING SOON
1956-57 
COMING SOON
1957-58 
COMING SOON

1958-66 -- NBC and ABC Enter the Game


1958-59 COMING SOON
1959-60 COMING SOON
1960-61 COMING SOON
1961-62 
COMING SOON
1962-63 
COMING SOON
1963-64 COMING SOON
1964-65 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1964-65-soap-ratings.html
1965-66 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1965-66-soap-ratings.html


1966-73 -- Scheduling Blocks Shape Soap Geometry


1966-67 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2018/02/1966-67-soap-ratings.html
1967-68 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2018/02/1967-68-soap-ratings.html

1968-69 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2018/02/1968-69-soap-ratings.html

1969-70 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2018/02/1969-70-soap-ratings.html

1970-71 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2018/02/1970-71-soap-ratings.html

1971-72 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1971-72-soap-ratings.html
1972-73 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1972-73-soap-ratings.html


1973-78 -- A Play For Social Relevance and Expansions



1973-74 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1973-74-soap-ratings.html
1974-75 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1974-75-ratings.html
1975-76 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1975-76-soap-ratings.html

1976-77 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1976-77-soap-ratings.html
1977-78 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1977-78-soap-history.html


1978-84 -- ABC's Love in the Afternoon


1978-79 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1978-79-soap-history.html
1979-80 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1979-80-soap-ratings.html

1980-81 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1980-81-soap-ratings.html

1981-82 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2017/12/1981-82-soap-ratings.html
1982-83 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1982-83-soap-ratings.html

1983-84 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1983-84-soap-history.html

1984-89 -- Late 80's Declines

1984-85 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1984-85-soap-ratings.html
1985-86 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1985-86-soap-ratings.html
1986-87 http://www.tvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1986-87-soap-ratings.html
1987-88 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1987-88-soap-ratings.html
1988-89 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1988-89-soap-ratings.html


1989-85 -- The 90's Golden Period

1989-90 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1989-90-soap-ratings.html
1990-91 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1990-91-soap-ratings.html
1991-92 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1991-92-soap-ratings.html
1992-93 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1992-93-soap-ratings.html
1993-94 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1993-94-soap-ratings.html
1994-95 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1994-95-soap-ratings.html

1995-2006 -- OJ Kills the Soaps


1995-96 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1995-96-soap-ratings.html
1996-97 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1996-97-soap-ratings.html
1997-98 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1997-98-soap-ratings.html

1998-99 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1998-99-soap-ratings.html
1999-00 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/1999-2000-soap-ratings.html
2000-01 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/2000-01-soap-history.html
2001-02 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/2001-02-soap-ratings.html
2002-03 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/2002-03-soap-ratings-history.html
2003-04 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2018/02/2003-04-soap-ratings-history-port.html
2004-05 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/2004-05-soap-ratings-history.html
2005-06 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/2005-06-soap-ratings.html


2006-12 -- One By One, The Soaps Die

2006-07 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2017/08/2006-07-soap-ratings-one-more-soap-ends.html
2007-08 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2017/08/2007-08-soap-ratings-wga-strike-and.html
2008-09 
http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2017/08/2008-09-soap-ratings-power-outage.html
2009-10 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2017/08/2009-10-mercury-in-retrograde-leaves-as.html
2010-11 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2017/08/2010-11-soap-ratings-end-of-era-all-all.html
2011-12 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2017/08/2011-12-soap-ratings-one-life-to-live.html

2012-Present -- And Then There Were Four

2012-13 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2017/08/2012-13-new-york-purge-cools-most.html
2013-14 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2017/08/2013-14-soap-ratings-gh-ticks-up-y.html
2014-15 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/2014-15-soap-ratings.html
2015-16 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/2015-16-soap-ratings.html
2016-17 http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1971/12/2016-17-soap-ratings.html
2017-18 COMING SOON

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