[Stuart]

Slightly OT, but I was wondering what the situation is with soaps in the US. AFAIK they used to have a plethora of daytime soaps, but very few ever made it to the international market.

Corrie continues because it has a small but diminishing core fan base.

[JAS84]

Yeah, the US soaps are dwindling and have been since the start of the new millennium. Guiding Light, which started on TV in 1952, was axed in 2009. As The World Turns which started in 1956 ended in 2010. All My Children and One Life To Live both bit the dust in 2011 after 40+ year runs. In 2022 Days of Our Lives was relegated from NBC to their streamer Peacock, meaning the NBC broadcast network no longer has a soap opera. The only other survivors are General Hospital on ABC, and The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, both on CBS.

Source: en.wikipedia.org 

Soap opera - Wikipedia
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  Source: en.wikipedia.org

[Spencer]

The reason I love the Neighbours reboot is the small cast and lots of fun mixed in with the drama. Plots don’t linger and are not dragged out, Toadie Mel Paul Terese aside. It still has a sense of community and good grounding.
Corrie’s ditched all of that for extra episodes and shock and awe. It’s completely lost any heart and neglected its past.
I’d cut the the episodes, cut the cast and stories and reconnect with its history, only then might it survive.

I’d love this to happen, but the trouble is it all comes down to money.

Corrie’s ratings, and the associated ad revenue, would still have to fall significantly further, to a level where cutting episodes and spending on new, replacement programming would be more economical. And I can’t see that happening soon.

[Dadeki]

The Mirror here with an exclusive story claiming that ITV is reportedly attempting to scale down costs by reducing the number of actors who can appear in each storyline. Faced with shrinking budgets, group scenes are to be cut back alongside a decrease in the number of extras being used. At the same time, there has been an increase in the use of "back-to-back" filming which sees the actors start from 7 am and then film for the rest of the day.

The changes have apparently 'sparked massive panic' amongst the series' cast, many of whom are only paid for the time in which they are present on set (unlike older cast members, who are apparently fully salaried regardless of their hours). The reason given is that the soap has 'haemorrhaged' viewers following increased competition from the likes of streaming services and so savings need to be made. Regardless of the reasons however clearly this is a difficult time for those working on the series, with morale 'plummeting' and there being feelings of 'disquiet behind the scenes'.

More here: www.mirror.co.uk 

Coronation Street stars in panic as their hours are cut by ITV bosses to save ca…
Coronation Street show bosses are also said to have slashed the number of extras…
  Source: www.mirror.co.uk

[Andrew]

I’m always a bit suspicious when a load of articles come out all at once

Like the papers are trying to ride on a bandwagon for clicks

[eyeTV]

None of the soaps are as dominant any more but all 3 Corrie episodes still appear in the weekly Top 10 TV shows every week.

[Brekkie]

None of the soaps are as dominant any more but all 3 Corrie episodes still appear in the weekly Top 10 TV shows every week.

Exactly, and despite it's apparent resurgence EastEnders quite often has no episodes in the Top 20, with Emmerdale sat in between.

[James2001]

To be fair though, with the EastEnders early iPlayer releases, that likely gathers a large chunk of the audience- I watch episodes that way very frequently rather than wait till broadcast.

[Keith]

In general, 'reoccurring dramas' have been the subject of cuts in the past year or two. Holby City and Doctors getting axed. With Casualty, whilst not axed the number of episodes have been reduced to save money. Also Hollyoaks has moved off linear TV, and it looks like episode lengths may have been shortened.

In some respects it's slightly surprising that Corrie has 3 hours per week (including adverts) shown on TV, and Emmerdale has 2-1/2 hours per week. By contrast Eastenders has only 2 hours per week (and no adverts).

I imagine one problem these soaps have is that they can't easily be redistributed to other channels / streaming services, or at least it doesn't seem to happen these days. There probably is still some scope for repeating episodes on ITV's own channels, though arguably this has become somewhat redundant due to being able to catch up via ITVX (and it's predecessors).

I imagine for ITV the predicament is that Corrie still rates strongly. Cutting the number of episodes probably won't help them, as the advertising revenue would presumably be lower during whatever replaced it. Also, if cutting the number of episodes they'd have to pay for something to fill that slot, though arguably documentaries and consumer programmes (e.g. Martin Lewis Show) are comparatively cheap. I didn't realise that some/many of the cast were only paid of scenes that they appeared in rather than getting a fixed salary, though I can see why these cuts would be an easy saving for ITV.

Longer term though I wonder if Corrie would benefit from being reduced to two hours a week.

[GMc]

In some respects it's slightly surprising that Corrie has 3 hours per week (including adverts) shown on TV, and Emmerdale has 2-1/2 hours per week. By contrast Eastenders has only 2 hours per week (and no adverts).

Emmerdale also airs for 3 hours a week (hour-long episode on Thursdays).

Many forum members here and on the predecessors have said this was overkill, but as you say, what's the alternate for ITV? They're not going to find a replacement for a dropped episode that rates as well.