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| Sadly not my sixth form college. |
In a day when there was only three channels, Coronation Street was able to achieve amazing figures, such as the 27m when Hilda Ogden departed at Christmas 1987. However, since the rise of digital television and on demand services in recent years, highest viewing figures for the show are at about a fourth of what they were back in '87, now at just 6-8m. One thing I don't agree with is though that the popularity has dropped. Those viewing figures do not account for the views on ITV Hub, or the omnibus editions at weekends.
Another thing my teacher said was that the print media are no longer interested in soap operas, though once again I do not agree. If you walk into any newsagents, the magazines and newspapers are adorned with headlines about upcoming storylines or gossip about the cast and crew. Perhaps the storylines aren't as well known amongst non-soap fans whilst they were in the 90s with Deirdre's prison ordeal and the like, but they certainly do make a big enough impression in the press and online.
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| "Magazines and newspapers are no longer interested in soap operas" |
Conclusively, I didn't get to pick Corrie as one of my case studies. Not because my media teacher told me I couldn't (I would never let anyone put Corrie down like that - I definitely got my opinion across!) but because I really struggled to find two films released within the past three years that were related to it or that matched the criteria. Eventually, I wormed my way into covering Waterloo Road, Doctor Who and The Inbetweeners Movie. I knew I'd get my way somehow - and atleast he can't accuse them of being stuck in the 90s!
You can follow my exploits on Twitter: @MichaelAdamsUk, if you so wish to!
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11 comments:
I completely disagree that only older people watch soaps now, many young people do, but some younger people don't like to admit it. If you look on twitter, characters like Carla in Corrie and Aaron, Robert and Ross in Emmerdale have massive, sometimes cult like fanbases, and the majority of these fans are young viewers, not people of an older generation.
I don't know if it would qualify for your assignment, but "Billy Elliot" would have been a nice tie-in with Corrie.
Oh my Michael, I have always looked at Star Wars and especially GOT as a type of soap opera,,, it certainly is serial based story telling with a bit more blood, gore and totalitarianism... Give them a chance sometime from that point of view and you won't be disappointed... Though possibly not as satisfied as with a good Corrie episode. Can only imagine Tyrion coming on and lambasting Tracey in the Rovers over a flagron of wine, lol!
Think we need to have a word with your media teacher and put him straight! TV Times cover this week? Coronation Street, again.
The days of soap haven't come to an end. I think that kind of genre will never disappear. The story of everyday folk is still as popular today as it has always been.
The fact that viewing figures are down compared to the 80s is a poor excuse. Soaps still attract huge figures despite many watching on the web and Sky+. Corrie, and others still attract an average to 7-8m, which, compared to other shows in the same timeslot, is 4-5m more.
Ok, the characters now aren't as memorable as past ones, but you've still got comments like 'that Phelan is a bad one', 'hasn't Carla been through the mill' or 'isn't Sally's husband a character'?. So they must still have appeal, even though people don't admit watching them.
Corrie is as relevant today as it was 30-40 years ago.
So you go on and write about Corrie in your assignment!
Even though the UK ratings may be lower now, thanks to digital wizardry, good shows gained new audiences and broader impact thanks to international licensing and streaming services that weren't available 10 years ago. If your teacher is only considering what folks watch on their sets over the air or on cable, then yeah, that's older people. However, he is ignoring all the other ways shows reach an audience, and that's skewed towards younger folk (really, who uses twitter, smart tvs and streaming apps? My 78 year old mom? Love her, but she can't figure out how to turn on an iPad).
Have fun with your project. BTW, my sister wrote a term paper on soap opera villainesses for a university class way back before there were VCRs. One of the favorite things she did academically.
I have to agree with your instructor. Soaps are losing appeal because of social media, which allows people to window gaze at the lives of ordinary people like themselves. We also are in an age of reality TV and celebrity for the sake of celebrity. Hence we are saturated with "shocking" news of this marriage break up and the 'stunning' revelations about so and so's sex life. Basically, all the needs traditionally filled by soaps are being met elsewhere. While Corrie and other Brit soaps may still have a shrunken audience, many long-standing American soaps have met their demise. Some of them had ran for longer than Corrie (despite the oft repeated claim that Corrie is the world's longest running soap). Don't hate, I am just the messenger.
I also agree with the teacher. There's no way that, even with online viewing and all the rest of it, soaps get the kind of viewing figures they used to. That is accepted by the TV companies even though the rank highly in the ratings (though not as highly as they once did). The average demographic is also 55+ and again that's accepted. Of course that's just an average - no one would argue that no young people watch soaps, that would be rubbish. Indeed, soap producers work very hard to attract younger audiences because that's what the advertisers want. In terms of magazine coverage, naturally TV magazines cover the soaps but I would argue that daily newspapers do not run as many soap related articles as they used to. But that's not necessarily a bad thing - much of the coverage years ago was tittle tattle about the cast.
Soaps have, in many ways, been replaced by shows such as TOWIE and these attract much stronger young audiences. Sadly.
The idea that reality TV and fake celebrity drivel draws more audiences than Corrie seems very hard to believe. If so, perhaps it indicates a lowering of the population's IQ more than a change in media. Also completely disagree that the average age of a Corrie viewer is 55+. That sounds like a statistic based solely on speculation and stereo-type.
Your media teacher seems to be like a lot of my teachers when I was back at college - completely lacking in knowledge of what they're talking about.
The following is taken from the ITV pack which is aimed at advertisers:
CORONATION STREET target audience: Housewives with children.
Attracts an average of 9.5m viewers with a 39% share.
looking back to the same document from three years ago it's interesting that it's listed as having an average audience of just over 12m and a share of 50.9%
In 2011 official figures showed that 12.5 % of Corrie's audience were A and B rated viewers and a slightly above average working-class audience of 39 % compared to other soaps on British TV.
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