Will Soap Operas still be on tv by 2030

[Lifenov86]

I think they will still exist but they will be online only. They used to be something that was watched by everyone but genuinely can’t remember the last time I heard anyone discuss them.

I think it changed when they started doing so many episodes a week. That's a lot of plots and now they are going round in circles. It's incredible to think that Eastenders used to have 30 million viewers.

I love coronation street, I actually pay for ITVX add free just so I can watch it with out the adds and when I want. Would be so sad to see it go

I do think it’s inevitable. They just cost a lot to make and the viewing figures seem to get lower every year

That's only 4 years away. I dont know. My dad in his 80s loves Emmerdale and it's an important part of his routine. He doesn't know how to access the Internet. I can imagine there are many more like him so I'd say they are good for another 10 years or so.

I can’t imagine another ten years! Just think how much has changed in the last year years of tv.

Feel the need to say. I don’t have any bad feeling towards soaps. Coronation street in particular was a huge favourite in my house growing up. I just think they now have outrageous storylines and loyal fans are drifting away. Also there is so
much more choice now

God I hope not.

Why 2030? Coronation Street has been around for 65 years, Emmerdale for 50+ years, and EastEnders for over 40 years. Failing a world war, I doubt they're as dispensable as some people seem to think.

I picked 2030 at random. Could have easily said 5/10 years. I don’t dislike the soaps. I just think they are falling out of fashion and are getting expensive (compared to viewing figures)

Don’t they get about 3-5million viewers per ep?
for reference strictly gets about 5-6 million doesn’t it? Whilst other ‘popular’ shows often get less than a million and still run for years.
I think they do pretty well still.

You said they cost a lot but do they actually? Compared to whatever else would have to fill all those hours of screen time (think all the episodes plus how much they’re repeated) I’d imagine they’re cheaper than other dramas since you don’t have to buy and build new sets every series or cast from scratch etc. and you can probably pay workers less than other dramas, since they’ll have a steady job, which is unusual in that industry.

Is it really that expensive ?

Google says it has a £30 million a year budget.

Compared even with the (reduced) number of people that watch it that is probably a faily good spend given the viewing audience.

I can imagine they also get a fair bit of that back by selling it overseas.

Stuff like period drama and sci fi/fantasy is a lot more expensive. Game of Thrones was silly money per episode IIRC.

Match of the Day is probably more stupidly expensive vs. viewing figures.

Stricly is supposed to be "tens of millions" for 14 hour long episodes.

Unlikely to happen since they still do OK in the ratings and have done for decades. As costs increase, ITV and the like will make further cutbacks to maintain their cash cows.

They should cut the amount of episodes and cast to get the quality back.

Hope not. Violence and nastiness disguised as entertainment.

I wonder how much Corrie and Emmerdale make in advertising as this will determine if it's still profitable for them to make.

Emmerdale has too big a cast.

There aren't any other decent Soaps

It's hard though for them to come up with new ideas.

Ordinary people are ... boring.

My guess is you can go through most of the "ordinary people" storylines within about 10 years. Which means you have to find other stuff to do.

Star Trek is kind of the same. In order to expand the scripts they can write, they did "the holodeck". For a scriptwrtiter that is great because they are no longer restricted to aliens and spaceships but can go back to the 1930s for a holo adventure. It makes scriptwring easier and they don't have to come up with new ideas all the time, which is hard.

Eastenders is kind of similar. The plot split from what I can tell (I don't watch it much) is "gangsters". They can introduce a whole load of extra story lines and plots by introducing gangsters and all the stuff gangsters do. Which is mostly out of the realms of normal people but allows them to have a lot more story lines than "Tricia has an affair and gets pregnant".