Network Soaps No Longer Cleaning Up.

THE soap bubble has burst.

With the exception of one ABC soap opera, every serial drama on the three networks' daytime schedules has either dropped in viewership or remained flat for the first three months of the new TV season, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The situation is even worse m the race for the most critical soap-opera demographic, women aged 18 to 49. Compared with last year, all 11 daytime soaps have lost women viewers. The most dramatic losers this season are NBC's "Passions," which lost 25 percent of these coveted viewers, and NBC's "Sunset Beach," which dropped 42 percent and which will have its final broadcast Dec. 31.

ABC, CBS and NBC (Fox does not have daytime programming) air a total of 14 shows during the hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nearly all are soaps, with the exception of "The Price Is Right," which airs in two half-hour installments at different times on CBS, and ABC's chat show "The View."

Daytime dramas have been the bread and butter of daytime programming, dating back to the days of radio. Production costs are low compared to prime time, while advertisers are anxious to reach the large female audience. But with audiences falling, the networks are struggling to find ways to reinvent the format -- or they are scrapping it entirely.

Reasons for falloff

Daytime viewing has been hit by a technological revolution, with cable and the Internet slicing into the network audience. Meanwhile, more women are joining the workforce every year -- and perhaps worst of all for the networks, daytime viewers have kicked their addiction to seeing their favorite soaps day after day.

"Women are busy," said Alan Wurtzel, president of NBC research and media development. "They are very reluctant to commit to a soap and watch it on a regular basis."

The result is that women are tuning in to shows that don't require daily exposure.

"Jerry Springer and Oprah Winfrey and programs on Lifetime and the Learning Channel don't require commitment," Wurtzel said. "When they are over, they are over. Younger women are even less likely to commit to a soap than older women."

That may explain the success of one of the hits on the network daytime schedule: ABC's talk show, "The View," which features Barbara Walters and a panel of women. It has a 2.4 rating, up 26 percent over last year in total viewers.

Meanwhile, two competing soap-opera cable channels are on the way, developed by Sony Pictures Entertainment' s Columbia TriStar TV division and the Disney/ABC Cable Networks.

Sony's Soap City channel is scheduled to start in early 2000. The company plans to announce its schedule by the end of the year.

A spokesman for Sony said the erosion of network soap ratings has not deterred the studio. He said the core of the new network will be same-day repeats of NBC's "Days of Our Lives" and CBS's "The Young and the Restless," both of which are owned by Sony.

The Disney/ABC channel, Soap Net, will recycle ABC's daily soap schedule within a day of the original broadcast. It is scheduled to be launched Jan. 24, 2000 and would also feature reruns of such prime-time soaps as "Falcon Crest," "Knots Landing" and "Sisters."

Building fan base

Network officials and media buyers have mixed feelings about the new channels. Repeats of daily soaps, especially in prime time, could bolster viewership by allowing fans to catch their favorite drama on the same day as it originally aired.

"There are potential soap fans who can't watch because they work," said David Poltrack, executive vice president of research and planning at CBS. "If they watch at night, periodically they will be home during the day, and when they are at home they will be regular fans. That's the positive."

But Wurtzel at NBC doesn't believe recycled programs are the answer. "You'll be seeing characters in 15-year-old soaps wearing bell bottoms and dancing to disco," he said. "It won't work."

Whether the new cable soap opera channels succeed or not, it's clear that cable is seriously eroding the network daytime audience. The combined rating for the three networks during daytime hours for the 1998-99 TV season was 10.8. Basic cable's was 11.3. The previous year, the networks totaled 11.3, compared to basic cable's 9.8.

ABC's show "One Life to Live" is the only soap that has seen an increase in viewers, up 6 percent over last year with a 3.4 rating, but the drama is down 10 percent in women 18 to 49, with a 2.7 rating.

The loss of younger, freer-spending women viewers is chilling to the networks. Advertisers are willing to pay far more to reach young viewers than an older audience. The age of the average CBS viewer during the daytime hours is 57.1, compared to ABC's 45.3 and NBC's 43.6.

'They are tired'

Networks are considering a variety of options. One being taken by NBC is to simply drop its poorest-performing soap, "Sunset Beach," and return that time slot to affiliates. Officials at ABC, meanwhile, say they are looking at ways to increase the sex appeal of their soaps and make other content changes to attract younger viewers.

So far such measures haven't been very effective. NBC had hoped to lure the young audience with its sex-soaked "Passions," but so far, the soap has not caught on.

The bottom line, some observers say, is that many soaps have been around too long.

"They are tired," said Lin Bolen, former head of NBC's daytime programming division. "If an actress is on a soap for 25 years, what does that mean? It means nobody new has emerged."

                              Daytime Ratings
                        Big 3 networks lose ground.
             1998-99 1994-95
             rating  rating
CBS            4.9     5.3
NBC            2.6     2.9
ABC            3.3     4.2
3-Net Totals  10.8    12.4
Independents   5.1     5.4
Basic cable   11.3     8.4
Pay cable      1.4     1.2
PBS            0.9     1.0
Source: Nielsen Media Research