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Russell T Davies fears soaps could 'die out within 10 years if they aren't careful'
Marcus_Smith
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Marcus_Smith
Posts: 3,572 Marcus_Smith
Posts: 3,572 Marcus_Smith
Posts: 3,572 Marcus_Smith
Posts: 3,572
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I hope this doesn't turn into one of those 'Hollyoaks will go first bla bla bla'!
However the audience share is still very healthy.
http://www.soapsquawk.co.uk/news/doctor-who-boss-soaps-could-end-in-10-years.php#results
Yeah right- recent lower ratings are because of the world cup, and credited with reinventing the dr.who brand when doctor who has gone horribly downhill!
I mean this might mean the end of soaps because they're never ending and people won't care to keep up, but it will affect the whole of television completely regardless of soaps.
Russell T Davies did reinvent the Doctor Who brand very successfully. Whatever's happening with it now is nothing to do with him.
Considering the anniversary got 10.2m viewers in the UK, Doctor Who is doing fine at the moment too.
We were actually discussing this in an Australian soap thread yesterday with Neighbours being moved from a main terrestrial channel to a digital channel being used as an example. Its happening across all genres. TOWIE is being moved in order to launch ITV's new channel ITVBe, all BBC3 content is moving online and in the US, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is moving to a new, lesser channel to help launch it. The way we watch TV is changing dramatically and I think the likes of Netflix series like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black are helping to remove the stigma attached to online TV which was previously seen as cheap and poorly made. While I can't see it happening anytime soon, it's not completely inconceivable that current terrestrial series like soaps and sitcoms will move online or to digital sister channels in the future. I could see ITV going the Hollyoaks route by having a first look option on one of their channels if it was struggling to find an audience _- like Emmerdale on ITVBe for example.
No, soaps obviously aren't what they once were - but I think it would be unrealistic to expect them to be. Tv has changed a tremendous amount. They don't have to get 20 million to be successful. They don't even have to get 10 million. If it compares well ratings wise with other programs or is in line with ratings trends in general - there shouldn't be a problem.
Straight to online tv shows are only just starting and I think you can expect them to grow and for that sort of thing to become the norm. This and viewers having so many options for catch up means more and more people will not be watching programs as they air. HBO calculates their ratings not just from initial viewings but catch ups and HBO go etc.
It's possible British soaps will just become stale, especially with so many really good drama's being produced nowadays with all sorts of gritty things being shown - soaps just won't compare. I think if the soaps can grow with the trends or even are allowed to grow they may stand a chance. I am going to hope the younger generations are less likely to want to flip out because of something less than savoury is shown which might mean they soaps could worry less and do more.
It's a toss up really and nothing lasts forever
Really. EE regularly gets under 30%. During the days of Chrissie watts the soap regularly pulled in 45%. In another decade EE may be looking at the low 20s - and the other soaps having a similar erosion.
There is no real bright spot here and hasn't been for ages. People on these threads were trying to blind themselves by talking about online viewing - and I remember on here when repeats were the golden caveat.
Fact is the soap audience has dwindled and whilst a portion of that may well be due to "changing viewer habits" and equally large if not bigger portion is due to the poor writing, over-reliance on shock plot-lines, reveals, and sensationalism, and generally poor management. EE has suffered from all these since the days of santer and never bothered to try and fix it. Rtd is 100% right.
Note: my comments pertain to EE cuz it's the only one I watch. But all the soaps are in a similar state.
You missed my point.
The audience share has dropped in correlation with viewing figures, however despite the fragmentation of the audience share the soaps still look strong in comparison to the other shows on at that time as they still register significantly large percentages. Unless they are facing a real big-hitter like the World Cup for instance.
As for the next ten years it is hard to say conclusively what way soaps will go, but I agree with you that quality has dropped over said timescale.
As has also and which has already been pointed out - the same must be true of Eastenders with all the money they're spending / and which is due to be spent on their new set.
This does surely indicate the same to be the case with EE - that there simply must be a long potential future with lots of plans (for both soaps as well as all of the others) in the long term - and that they will both, almost certainly therefore - be still around in 10 years time.
THIS^
I think some have a tendency to overplay the change in viewing habits card which obscures the underlying longterm trend.
At its most politely put soaps may be on their way to being a spent force.
Not really.The building of sets just shows that the BBC and ITV have an intention and desire too keep their soap going.They certainly want to keep them going but since when has wanting something guaranteed how things will play out?
Both broadcasters have flushed larger amounts of money down the toilet on failed projects than the cost of these soap set rebuilds.
Well said
How can they be on their way to being a spent force when week in week out they top the viewing figures? there is no danger of them slipping off the radar for the foreseeable.
Someone posted data yesterday in the TV Ratings thread which showed EastEnders averaging over one million hits per episode on iplayer. Nothing else comes close to that. Perhaps some of you are underestimating the huge shift in viewer trends because that sort of data puts EastEnders well ahead of Corrie in terms of overall viewership reach. The days of sitting around with the family watching soaps are over. People have busier and more active lives in 2014 than they did in 1994. Why do you think TV On Demand is so popular?
You can't dismiss the change in viewer trends just because it doesn't suit a crisis agenda.
Further more, both Corrie and EastEnders have/had huge amounts of money invested into new sets to keep them on the air for at least another two decades. The Elstree Studio complex is being completely remodelled around the new EastEnders set. The BBC can't show any more commitment than that.
I'm not sure there's any way back for soaps now, they've basically done everything/covered every possible issue there is to cover. EastEnders is now relying on recycling old plots and repackaging them as new ones (how many 'I'm secretly your mother' plots have we had now? It's tedious). No wonder people are tuning out. There are so many other shows available that actually still have the ability to create engaging characters and great drama (Breaking Bad, Sherlock, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Call the Midwife etc) we just don't see that in soaps any more.