Images of existing Soap Operas and Population

EASTENDERS

SCHEDULING

For the past 20 years, Eastenders has remained at the centre of BBC 1’s primetime schedule. Currently it is broadcast at 19:30 on Tuesday and Thursdays, and 20:00 on Monday and Friday. The omnibus is broadcast on Sunday afternoon at various times depending on what is on TV on that day. Originally Eastenders was shown twice weekly at 19:00 but in August 1985 it moved to 19:30 to stop the show running in direct competition with ‘Emmerdale Farm’. BBC had actually planned to take advantage of the ‘summer break’ that Emmerdale Farm usually took in order to boost the ratings, but ITV added extra episodes and repeats so that the show wasn’t taken off the air over summer. Due to this, Eastenders was moved. However, to avoid tabloid speculation about it being a ‘panic move’, they had to dress up the presentation of that move in such a way to protect the show. They did this by using lots of reasons for the move. Eastenders then increased their shows to 3 times a week on 11^th April 1994 and then up to 4 showing also now on Fridays since 6^th August 2001. This caused controversy at the time as it clashed with Coronation Street. Coronation Street had moved to 20:00 to make way for an hour long episode of Emmerdale that begun at 19:00. This left Eastenders and Coronation being broadcast at the same time, which provoked a lot of complaints especially as the BBC’s last minute move was only announced earlier on the same day.

POPULARITY

Eastenders is broadcast around the world in many English speaking countries including New Zealand and Canada. The series was also broadcast in the United States until BBC America ceased broadcasts of the serial in 2003 causing fan protests. It is shown on BBC Prime in Europe and BBC Entertainment, since 1^st September 2008 in Africa and is around 6 episodes behind UK Eastenders. It was also shown on BBC Prime in Asia but was then replaced.

"Between 2001 and 2002, Eastenders was the 10^th most searched-for TV show on the Internet. It was the 2^nd most popular UK search term in 2003 and the 7^th in 2004. Eastenders also holds the record for the most watched soap episode in Britain. Since Eastenders began in 1985 at least one of its episodes has rated higher than any other British soap opera throughout each decade including the 80s, 90’s and so far the 2000s."

RATINGS

On 21st September 2004, the executive producer quit following critism of the show. The following day the show received it’s lowest ever ratings at that time of 6.2 million when ITV scheduled an hour long episode of Emmerdale against it. Emmerdale was watched by 8.1 million people. Since, Emmerdale has managed to beat Eastenders and has therefore established itself as a serious contender for the second most popular UK soap.

In order to boost ratings, changes in management and cast have taken place over the years. Some of the descisions seem irrational, like sudden axing of cast members which can cause complaints, but in my opinion, what doesnt cause a complaint? Since then the ratings have improved and on Christmas Day 2008, Eastenders attracted 11.5 million viewers when Sean Slater discovered he wasn’t the father of Amy Slater. It was the most watched soap opera that day. On New Year’s Day 2009, the episode attracted an audience of 9.9 million viewers making it the most watched programme of the day. In 2009, a peak of 11.5 million viewers watched an hour long episode also. So even though Eastenders did have a decline in viewers at some points, it has recovered and will most likely go through the problem again due to the constant competition. Almost all soaps have had to have a clean out at some point so its not completely shocking.

FACTS

On Friday 11th November 2005, Eastenders was the first British drama to feature a two minute silence. This episode later went on to win the British Soap Award for 'Best Single Episode'. This tells me that the public like the show demonstrating reality, i think it shows a sense of compassion towards issues that effect the public. I personally see this as risky as the show only broadcasts for 30 minutes a day, so spending 2 minutes actually loses important time. It shows that the show is in a position to be able to make risks because it has such a following.

In 2007 April, the official Eastenders website was redesigned from the previous version to a newer more stylish version...So i want to make my own soap opera website up to date and with the current trend.

In 2009, producers introduced a limit on the number of speaking parts in each episode due to budget cuts, with an average of 16 characters per episode.

HOLLYOAKS

SCHEDULING

Hollyoaks is produced by Lime Pictures and filmed mainly in Liverpool. The show currently broadcasts at 18:30 each weekday on Channel 4 with an omnibus edition on Sunday morning as well as Saturday on E4 and E4+1, both of the times vary. At 19:00 each weekday, Channel 4’s digital sister channel E4 airs ‘First Look’ where viewers are able to watch the next episode before the next day on Channel 4. E4 also gives viewers the opportunity to catch up each weekday with repeats at 16:30. The show initially aired weekly in 1995. In July 1996, Mersey TV opted to recommission the show and increase its output to twice a week, that autumn. A third episode was introduced in September 1999 and a fourth in 2001. In November 2003, the show increased its output with a fifth episode, which has remained to this date.

POPULARITY

Hollyoaks airs in 17 countries around the world including the following:

UK

Israel

Belgium

Indonesia

Canada

Norway

Serbian

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sweden

Spain

Finland

Iceland

South Afrida

USA  (until 2008)

Turkey

Ireland and New Zealand- it aired on TV3, TVNZ and C4. Hollyoaks had proved such a hit with the audience that TV executives ditched Eastenders altogether in favour of the more youth-orientated show. 

"It demonstrates the winning formula of the show," said series producer Jo Hallows. "It's a great combination of glamour, youth and gritty storylines tackled in a realistic way. It's a fun drama which takes an irreverent view of life." - This is exactly how i would like my own soap opera to be described

RATINGS

To get a good idea on the ratings of Hollyoaks i looked on a website called www.barb.co.uk. I figure this website will come in handy when understanding the times and shows that are most popular. In a weeks worth of shows, Hollyoaks appear in the top 30, 5 times. So it is keeping up ratings for channel 4. Around this time, shows like The Simpsons, Paul O'Grady, Come Dine with me all surround Hollyoaks, they all come one after the other. So this gives me a good reason to place my show beside Hollyoaks as this is when most viewers are watching. Also, another thing i have noticed is that the Monday episode of Hollyoaks seems to be the most watched by viewers every week compared to the other broadcasting days, so i will take this into account when scheduling my soap. I am surprised by this, because i assumed that Friday would be the most watched as thats when the week climax's usually happens. So I will look at other reasons why it would be more popular Mondays beside plot.

Looking at various News Reports it seems as if Hollyoaks are improving ratings in recent years:

(2008 Broadcast Now)

FACTS

Hollyoaks was the only soap to be nominated in every catergory at the 2007 British Soap Awards.

Although the show is popular amongst the younger student culture, in 2001 students at CHESTER COLLEGE were upset about how they were misrepresented by a storyline in the show. Chester being a prime location in the soap, therefore the realism of the show really settle with them most of all.

"Students at other universities think we are a bunch of radicals and militants because thats how the students are portrayed in Hollyoaks. They assume that the college in the programme is Chester College, because Hollyoaks is set in the city". 

 

NEIGHBOURS

SCHEDULING

Since February 2008, in the UK Neighbours is shown on two UK channels: Five and its digital sister channel Fiver. Keeping up with modern technologies, it can now also been caught up online via the Channel 10 Website in Australia where you can watch the last 5 aired episodes and Demand Five in UK. UK screenings are currently 9 weeks behind Australia. In Australia it has screened as five 22 minute episodes a week shown each weeknight in an early evening slot. It airs at 6.30pm going up against rival current affairs shows ‘Today Tonight’ and ‘A Current Affair’.  When the show first began in 1986 on BBC One, it was screened from 1.25pm to 1.50pm, before moving it to 1.50pm and then later to 1.40pm. There was also a repeat episode at 5.35pm from January 4th 1988 on BBC 1. Neighbours had a 16 year re-run of Neighbours episodes on UKTV GOLD but it ended after reaching 5330 episodes. Nowadays the show is broadcast on channel Five at 1.45pm with a repeat screening at 5.30pm, also repeated on Fiver at 7pm and 10am. Neighbours is on air for approximately 44 weeks per year and broadcast from early January to early December. It goes off air for 5 weeks during the Christmas/New Year holidays.

 

POPULARITY

In the late 1980s Neighbours had a UK audience of over 18 million (from a total population of 58 million). This at the time was a figure greater than the population of Australia.

The show is or has been broadcast in the following countries:

New Zealand

Ireland

Belgium

Catalonia

Galicia

Iceland

Denmark

Norway

Sweden

Israel 

RATINGS

Neighbours is more popular in the UK where it was formerly screened on BBC One, normally attracting an average of 3 million viewers for its lunchtime showing and 2.6 million for its early- evening repeat. It is frequently the highest rating daytime programme in the UK outside of news bulletins. When moving to channel 5 in 2008, the first episode to be shown attracted 2.2 million viewers meaning a drop of 300,000 from the BBC’s average. However the move boosted Five’s usual share for the 5.30pm slot by 3 and a half times! ‘Home and Away’, broadcasted directly afterwoods on the same channel received 1.4m on the same evening. By having Neighbours on this channel before ‘Home and Away’, viewers would stay and watch both soaps therefore boosting ratings for the other show.

This is what influences my soap opera idea. We want to have our show on Channel 4 as our target audience watch TV on this channel and usually at the time near our show. Shows like ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Hollyoaks’ are on till 19:00pm, leaving a gap for a show like my soap to be broadcast. At 19:00pm, nothing is on, there is a gap in the channels evening where my show could boost viewers by the same amount of viewers as ‘Hollyoaks’. The only other Soap that airs at the same time would be ‘Emmerdale’ on ITV, This therefore wouldn't cause a problem as the Emmerdale and my soap have different target audiences and it would be unlikley the viewer would want to watch both anyway. However, if that not the case, Channel 4 has a brother channel Channel 4+1 that repeats the shows straight after anyway.

FACTS

 Like Eastenders, Neighbours has in the past brung out its theme tune as a single...It came to number 84 in the charts.

For my soap opera, i'd like the theme tune to be something like a single that the target audience would listen to on their ipod. Everytime they would listen to the song..they'd then think about the show.

 Neighbours has used a guest star who is very famous to play a role, Lily Allen. This would certainly boost viewers as it is unexpected and her fans would want to watch her on the screen.  Neighbours are not the only soap to use iconic names in their show. Here are a few examples of past guest stars:

 

Eastenders: The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, David Williams

Coronation Street: PRINCE CHARLES, Phil Taylor (famous dart player), Peter Kay

Hollyoaks: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Mcfly

Neighbours: Matt Lucas and David Williams

CORONATION STREET

 

SCHEDULING

Coronation Street has remained at the centre of ITV's prime time schedule for 49 years. The programme is currently shown in Great Britain in 5 episodes, over 3 evenings a week on the ITV Network.   

From Friday 9 December 1960 until Friday 3 March 1961, the programme was shown in two episodes broadcast Wednesday and Friday at 19:00. Schedules were changed and from Monday 6 March 1961 until Wednesday 18 October 1989, the programme was shown in two episodes broadcast Monday and Wednesday at 19:30. The third weekly episode was introduced on Friday 20 October 1989, broadcast at 19:30. From 1996, an extra episode was broadcast at 19:30 on Sunday nights.

POPULARITY

 The show has or is broadcasting in the following countries:

Republic of Ireland

Canada

Australia

New Zealand

U.A.E (United Arabs Emirates)

Sweden

Netherlands

RATINGS

The show has consistently rated as either one of or the most watched television program on British television. It currently outrates any other soap in both overnight and official viewing figures. In 2008 an average of 9.3 million people watched each episode, significantly above main rivals Eastenders (8.2m) and Emmerdale (6.4m). However viewership has declined significantly along with the rest of terrestrial viewing in the UK. In the 1980s up to 28 million people would tune in on a regular basis.

 

The first sponsor of Coronation Street began in July 1996. Cadburys, the original sponsorship had a chocolate-like version of the street. In 2006, Cadbury Trebor Bassetts had to recall over one million chocolate bars, due to suspected salmonella contamination, and Coronation Street stopped the sponsorship. This makes me think about the importance in being able to trust a sponsorship. This could potentially lose a lot of viewers because of Coronation Street supporting a dangerous product. However, Coronation Street did the wise thing in stopping the sponsorship in 2007. Harvey’s is now the new sponsor since 2007.  

Left: Image of Chocolate Coronation Street

 

 

EMMERDALE

SCHEDULING 

The series is broadcast on the ITV network, and was first aired on 16 October 1972. It was originally conceived and broadcast as a daytime programme in an afternoon slot, becoming an early evening programme in 1978 in most ITV regions - but excluding London and Anglia, both of which followed in the mid-1980s. Until the mid-1980s, Emmerdale took seasonal breaks and was not an all year round soap. The series was first broadcast over the Christmas holiday period in 1988.

Emmerdale is shown on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 19:00 and on a Thursday at 19:00 and 20:00 (as of 23 July 2009). Episodes are first broadcast on ITV1. Every episode lasts around 29/30 minutes (including commercials). Without adverts the total time of footage averages to around 22 minutes per episode. Repeat episodes and the omnibus of the show can be seen on ITV2.

I was thinking about the channel I've decided to put my soap on, and even though I hate commericals like many people, the type of commercials that are on my specific channel are relevant to the teenage audience. Where Emmerdale would have commercials about butter, deodrant or cookery books, Hollyoaks for would usually have music, makeup and youthful advertisements. So even though both Eastenders and Emmerdale fit a half an hour slot, Eastenders are able able to fit more storyline in as there are no commercials. However, shows like Eastenders are usually more slow tempo and natural therefore need the time to get a reality feeling, whereas Hollyoaks would make less effort making it seem too real and just cut to the point. As my show follows Hollyoaks style more, i feel confident that the storyline will fit fine and the commercials will keep the audience entertained enough. Also, advertising comes as a benefit to me aswell. The more channel 4 adverts that want to be placed in my soap's commercial break the better because it means i'm getting sales for the product therefore the channel appreciates the show more. I will be placing advertisements on the soaps official website too.

POPULARITY

The show has or is broadcasting in the following countries:

Ireland

Sweden

Finland

New Zealand

Australia

Romania

Middle East-Cyprus and Malta

RATINGS

On 30 December 1993 Emmerdale attracted its highest ever audience of 18 million when a plane crashed into the village killing four villagers. The aftermath of the plane crash on 5 January 1994 attracted 16 million viewers. The storyline brought Emmerdale into the public eye, and consequently kept the show as one of the most watched soaps on British television.

When researching the ratings of Emmerdale, I noticed that alot of the numbers were constantly compared to those of Eastenders. This shows me that Emmerdale finds Eastenders it highest competition. I'd like to avoid this, and by choosing channel 4, I can be played alongside and supporting Hollyoaks as I know that I would lose alot of viewers if played along side. My relationship with Hollyoaks will be similar to the one of Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

FACTS

Even though Emmerdale has often 'won' the ratings over Eastenders, when it comes to awards Eastenders have won 60...while Emmerdale have 20.



Like Hollyoaks is sponsored by Chewing Gum (popular amongst teens), Emmerdale has been sponsored by a number of commercial partners including Daz, Heinz Salad Cream, Veet and Lemsip. (This is links with the type of commercials to follow in the break)



Since October 6 2009, the show has been sponsored by an online bingo site Tombola Bingo. When listening and watching the sponsor on youtube, it even had country sounding music in the background linking with the theme of the show.

 

DOCTORS

 

SCHEDULE

Usually airs at 13:45 every weekday and is available for recap episodes on the internet (the bbc iplayer website).

From 16 February 2009, Doctors began transmitting in High Definition on the BBC HD channel, where it is shown at 18:00.

 

RATINGS

Doctors has audience ratings of between 1.5 to 2 million, with about 25% viewing audience per episode. As of 2009 Doctors has increased its audience and now has over 3.5 million viewers with about 50% viewing audience per episode.