Post by lolaruns on Jun 28, 2008 4:30:21 GMT -5
Okay, here is my take on the prime difference between European soaps and US soaps:
1.) Germany and the UK put their soaps on later in the day. US soaps are at noon (12.30 pm to 4 pm). German and UK soaps are on in the afternoon (2pm to 8pm). So the US courts stay at home moms and other people home during the day while Germany and UK court people who work 9-5 and who are home at 5.30, 6, 7, 7.30 pm.
2.) US soaps air in competition with each other. German and UK soaps air after each other.
In the US if you are watching during the soap timeslot and you love soaps you have to decide whether to watch a CBS soap OR an ABC soap OR an NCB soap.
Meanwhile in Germany and the UK even rivalling channels seem to want to avoid competition with each other. If you enjoyed Verbotene Liebe and Marienhof you can then switch channels and watch AWZ and GZSZ if you love soaps. So the potential soap loving audience isn't split between two or three rival soaps. Either people like soaps then they will watch the one soap that is available during that timeslot, or they don't.
As a result the soaps have higher ratings sometimes even in numbers, but definitely in audience percentages (for example here isn't really much of a difference between what AWZ and GZSZ get in ratings and what many of the channels primetime shows get, like the dubbed versions of Heroes or House, natually the difference is likely in the male demo). Hence they also have more money to invest in it.
1.) Germany and the UK put their soaps on later in the day. US soaps are at noon (12.30 pm to 4 pm). German and UK soaps are on in the afternoon (2pm to 8pm). So the US courts stay at home moms and other people home during the day while Germany and UK court people who work 9-5 and who are home at 5.30, 6, 7, 7.30 pm.
2.) US soaps air in competition with each other. German and UK soaps air after each other.
In the US if you are watching during the soap timeslot and you love soaps you have to decide whether to watch a CBS soap OR an ABC soap OR an NCB soap.
Meanwhile in Germany and the UK even rivalling channels seem to want to avoid competition with each other. If you enjoyed Verbotene Liebe and Marienhof you can then switch channels and watch AWZ and GZSZ if you love soaps. So the potential soap loving audience isn't split between two or three rival soaps. Either people like soaps then they will watch the one soap that is available during that timeslot, or they don't.
As a result the soaps have higher ratings sometimes even in numbers, but definitely in audience percentages (for example here isn't really much of a difference between what AWZ and GZSZ get in ratings and what many of the channels primetime shows get, like the dubbed versions of Heroes or House, natually the difference is likely in the male demo). Hence they also have more money to invest in it.
