ABC AFFILIATES NEED DAYTIME DRAMA

2.5 MILLION LOST

That is the number of ad impressions lost per ad each week on ABC in the 18-49 female demographic during the 2-hour time

Urge ABC to Bring Back Its Signature Soaps

ABC DAYTIME TASTES LIKE NEW COKE

In a recent Forbes article, media analyst Roger Friedman sternly took ABC to task for dismantling its own daypart by canceling All My Children and One Life to Live and threatening cancellation for pop culture icon General Hospital. Friedman compared

ABCs afternoon lifestyle programming to the New Coke

debacle and called on ABC to go back to its original formula. Highly engaged and social media savvy soap fans agree and urge affiliates to send ABC a strong message to return One Life to Live and All My Children to its line-up.

Does Your Hungerford Report Show Decline in Your Marketing Position?

Why?
ABC Daytime down 30% YTD Daytime affects primetime

block formerly occupied by

All My Children and One Life to Live versus the same time last year.
Calculated based on Nielsen ratings Females 18-49

ABC RESEARCH WAS WRONG

Last April when ABC announced its research suggesting daytime viewers wanted life style programming, viewers warned ABC and its affiliates the alleged research was wrong. Though the research ABC relied upon has never been released for vetting, the dire results of relying on it are plain to everyone.

Political ad windfall is short-term

Loss of highly engaged viewer base

Fix It!
Urge ABC to return canceled soaps Support scripted daytime drama Return to proven formula Show appreciation for loyal viewers

Loss of ABCs Daytime ratings causes declines in ratings for local news which means less ad revenue for your affiliate, less money in your communitys economy, and less money for YOU.

Within seven months after All My Children was canceled, ABC

surrendered its former daytime dominance to CBS, and since January when One Life to Live left the air, ABC Daytime ratings have collapsed, down 30% in females 18-49 versus same time last year. ABC may never regain the daytime dominance or stability it once sustained; however, keeping General Hospital and returning its recently-canceled soaps to daytime would

immediately stop the bleeding and yield affiliates more ad

revenue.

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ABC NEEDS ANOTHER ONE LIFE TO LIVE TO BRING BACK ALL ITS CHILDREN
DESTABILIZED DAYTIME AFFECTS PRIMETIME
According to Fortune, not all broadcast networks are losing viewers, but ABC is losing them in both daytime and primetime. Since cancellation of All My Children and One Life to Live, more than a million live viewers abandon ABC daily during the two-hour block occupied for four decades by AMC and OLTL. Each week, this attrition translates into millions fewer ad impressions for advertisers and for ABCs own primetime promos. Ratings suggest many of the viewers ABC expelled from daytime migrated to CBS, whose daypart has seen increases, notably with its soap Bold and Beautiful up more than 20% since OLTL left the air, as well as 14% increases in CBS primetime for the fall season. CBS is reaping ratings rewards promoting its primetime line-up to the afternoon refugees from ABC. Bringing back One Life to Live and All My Children, while retaining General Hospital, would return eyeballs to ABC Daytime, your local news programs, and very likely ABCs primetime as well. In its first quarter since All My Children left the air, Disney's broadcast division, which includes the ABC network and its eight ABC-owned affiliates, reported a 7% decline in revenue and a whopping 23% decline in operating income for its fiscal first quarter, compared with the same time last year.

Reality television has lost the shock of the new.

The entire episode will be remembered as the New Coke era of ABC Daytime.

PAUL LEE, President of ABC

Entertainment

ROGER FRIEDMAN
Forbes

ABC ended the fall season dead last among the four networks with 18 to 49 year olds, down 1% from last year, compared to 2% and 14% increases in viewership at Fox and CBS, respectively.
CYRUS SANATI Fortune

It really is about eyeballs,

and we will go with the shows that have the most viewership.

ANNE SWEENEY, President, Disney/ABC Television Group

POLITICAL AD BUYING BOON IS OVER IN NOVEMBER. WHAT WILL YOUR AFFILIATE DO THEN? .

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