From SON:
Soaps have not yet proven to be profitable and cheaper. What has happened is casting cuts, salary cuts, no more salary increases, use of more recurring players, bringing on new cast members with out without acting talent who come very cheap and often don't stay past a year or two because they want to make it big in Hollywood.
You have to remember when it comes to negotiating ad rates the money is on non-scripted talk shows for the money. Because that is what it comes down to. It comes down to the ad rates vs cost of production vs the ratings vs the audience.
Now B&B and Y&R have always been the safest out of all the soaps (even back as far as 2000) because:
B&B
1. The show solely owned by the Bell's. Thus they cover the production cost for the series. 2. Their show is syndicated to over 100 nations. That means that when the revenue split, CBS easily gets paid from the revenue for only the U.S. airing of the show and if it airs on another CBS Corp owned network. However, The Bell's get paid even more based on the revenue they get from international markets. (From that standpoint, B&B is the most profitable of the four soaps). This also makes it the only one of the four daytime dramas to thrive as an international brand.
If B&B was just a domestic soap and earned its revenue that way, it would be cutting spending and all the lavish sets would not be there.
Y&R 1. Much like Days, Y&R has to split the revenue four ways between CBS, Sony, Corday Productions (because Ken own 1% of the show but that is not much he is getting at all) and the Bells. (Side Note: Days as to split the revenue three ways NBC, Sony and CP.) 2. It manages to be most consistent highly rated show. Thus, it pulls in the highest ad revenue and has the strongest negotiating power at the table among the four soaps.
Both B&B and Y&R also match and/or beat some of the prime time broadcast series in the ratings. With Y&R being the most consistent in that area. Each soap gets two to three year renewals when the their contracts are up. Down from the five year's that they both got before 2005. But the best.
Now let's take a look at Days and GH.
GH 1. The saving grace for this soap is that it is solely owned ABC. So all the ad revenue is split one ways. 2. The other saving grace is that ABC has not come up with a proper replacement for it. And outside of The View, which is their most successful daytime series. They are not in a position to consider filling up another hour of TV.
Yet, they cannot afford to bring AMC and OLTL back. Not at five day a week daytime dramas. Even if you cut the episode countdown down to two or three episodes a week at a half-hour each. No one is giving money out that type of soap anymore in the United States. As you are investing at a loss that one won't regain thinking you can reclaim the magic of the past when advertisers are looking toward millennials and Gen Z not middle aged and older television viewers from another era.
At best, you might get an 8-to-13 episode hour-long cable drama that runs for many seasons. And that would have to be completely done like a Queen Sugar or Greenleaf . And there can be none of soap tropes you see on Daytime TV today. Because you have to pull in millennial and Gen Z viewers to be a success. And will click off as quickly as ever when they see what passes as daytime soaps.
GH is not safe forever, just for the moment.
Days 1. Days is being renewed year-to-year. Which means it is always in a precious state. Yet, NBC has been struggling with their daytime lineup in general. So, for right now, the series is safe. 2. They just continue to slice the budget for Days when they need to try and make the show turn a profit and remain on air. It's like a 50-year old restaurant cutting items from the menu, using cheaper food vendors with imitation products, reducing operation hours and reducing staff and their work hours to turn a profit. The restaurant is still there. It has not closed. Yet, what it has to do to remain open is not what one would call profitable. But it is still there.
