Is the Soap Opera a Passe Form of Entertainment?

Soaps were created in the 1930s as a way for advertisers to reach the female demographic who made up much of the daytime radio audience. The name derived from the soap detergents that were advertised during the programs and the melodramatic style of the radio dramas. It was generally received that women controlled the household budget, so advertisers sponsored programs that appealed to their interests and needs. But now, some seventy years since the first radio dramas made it to the air, the interests and needs of women have changed. No longer housewives, women are working more than they ever had in any time in history. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women as of 2006 make up 46% of the labor force and are expected to represent 51% of the labor force between 2004 and 2014. This has had an enormous impact on the daytime industry as the networks try to find ways to recapture this important demographic.

The changes working women have brought to the medium are enormous. When women worked primarily in the home, soap operas were tailored specifically to address their particular needs. For instance, the soaps emphasized stories based around families and romance. The way in which the stories were formatted were also done with an awareness of how women managed their time and chores. Stories were segmented in a way that allowed viewers to multi-task household duties while watching. When women began moving into the workforce in the 1970s, soaps addressed the fact that their viewers weren't able to watch everyday by adding expository dialogue that helped them catch up with the daily stories. By the 1980s, VCRs allowed viewers to tape their shows and watch them at their own convenience. Though soap operas remained wildly popular during this period, the advent of the VCR, prefiguring TIVO, and cable changed the dynamic between the soap viewer and producer: no longer did the networks have control over what television programs viewers watched and when and how they chose to watch them. In the reality of broadcast television, this has had an enormous impact on advertising dollars and rates.

But while technology liberated women viewers, it also benefitted advertisers. By the early 1990s, technology enabled ratings counters to count individual television viewers within households. By focusing on individual viewers, advertisers were able to target potential consumers based on age and economic status, thus getting better results for their ad dollars. Advertisers turned their interests toward consumers aged 18-49 and 18-35, believing that younger viewers were more likely to try new brands or products than older viewers. At the same time, advertisers turned toward branding products-placing an emphasis on how a product identified the consumer's personality or personal interests. More than ever ads appealed to young consumers' desires to be cooler or hipper began appearing on airwaves. And while in the beginning advertisers stumbled, particularly in trying to appeal to Generation X consumers, the emerging Internet and IT industry offered avenues for advertisers to appeal to young consumers who turned to alternative ways of socializing and spending. These young consumers, who began working in startup dot.com companies, expressed a non-traditional attitude toward work and lifestyle that found its way into television ads, many for the very dot.coms that were exploding in popularity during the 1990s, thus providing a template for the advertising world to appeal to this sought-after demographic.

Daytime soaps reflected these changes by turning away from their stable and loyal audiences-women mostly over the age of 35-to appeal to younger and younger audiences. Story and casting choices reflected this shift away from traditional viewing audiences by focusing more on younger characters and youthful storylines. But the shift toward younger viewing audiences have not had a demonstrable effect on daytime ratings. Indeed, since the mid-90s, ratings for daytime have steadily decreased. This season, daytime dramas has seen a 15% decrease in the key demographic among women aged 18-34. Earlier this year, the Nielsen Media Research added college dorms and DVRs in their viewing counts, but the difference hasn't been enough to pull daytime dramas out of the ratings cellar. The emphasis away from those traditional characters and storylines has turned off a lot of fans who feel both their favorite programs and networks are neglecting their needs and interests.

The networks have responded to the decrease in ratings in a number of different ways. Recognizing that the Internet, cable and DVRs have changed the viewing habits of their audiences, the networks have turned to alternative ways to attract audiences. Networks are now using websites and podcasts as a way to attract and keep audiences tuned in to their daytime programs. One show which has pushed this alternative form of programming is the Guiding Light, which features daily abridged podcasts of its program. Earlier this year, when the show celebrated its 70th anniversary, Executive Producer Ellen Wheeler set up a website "Finding Your Light" which featured clips of past shows as well as testimonials from cast and fans who describe the individuals who have been "their light." The interactive website allows fans to use the Internet as a portal to the show itself. ABC daytime uses SOAPnet, which is also owned by ABC, to rebroadcast its daytime lineup, creating additional revenue for the network. This summer, SOAPnet will feature a primetime spinoff of the soap General Hospital, featuring younger characters, in hopes of cross-pollinating interests from one soap to the next.

Yet for all of these efforts, ratings continue to stagnate. The question that remains to be asked is whether the soap opera is a viable vehicle for entertainment for today's audiences. As primetime delivers more serial dramas-some successful, some not-so successful-it is clear that audiences still hunger for narrative dramas. And according to Nielsen Media Research, DVRs can be every bit as profitable for advertisers as live viewing, as determined in a survey which showed that the sooner DVR viewers playback recorded programs, the likelier they are retained for ads. 85% of daytime dramas, according to this study, of 18-49 DVR viewers playback programs within 27 hours after recording, which suggests that advertising for this audience is still advantageous to advertisers. 54% of DVR households are more likely to watch recorded programs with more than one person in attendance, reflecting the kind of communal experience daytime dramas have always depended upon to create new generations of viewers. DVR owners are also more likely to be younger, better educated, and have higher incomes than their live viewing counterparts.

The good news is cable has not benefited from the fall off in ratings on the broadcast networks and that there is a general downward trend in all television viewing this past season. Such popular primetime programs as Lost and Grey's Anatomy have also seen a marked decrease in ratings from previous seasons. Still, the drop off in daytime ratings are unique and address specific differences in program tastes between the networks' bottom-line interests and the audiences' desire to see quality programming. As soaps turn toward gimmicks and alternative styles of storytelling, for instance experimenting for close-ended arcs, then fans will continue to drift away in droves.

The real trick for networks to keep longtime fans and attract newer viewers is by offering traditional soap storytelling with an emphasis on family, romance, and intrigue through non-traditional formats. A few of the general complaints that online fans have of their favorite soaps is that the shows lack of balance-the shows will focus on stories revolving around one or two characters while ignoring its large cast-character assassination of fan favorites, an emphasis on plot oriented stories rather than character driven stories, and a complete ignorance of the show's history. By fixing these problems, while turning to alternative ways in which they tell stories, daytime producers might be able to retain and attract audiences. At the moment, daytime seems to be stuck in a standstill, digging itself deeper and deeper into a hole as they recreate their daytime products to suit an audience that may or may not be interested in them, while turning off once loyal fans. Until the networks address the fundamental problems they are currently facing, then whatever opportunities daytime has in a resurgence might very well slip through their fingers.