The debut of SOAPnet’s original series General Hospital: Night Shift ranked as the network’s most-viewed telecast ever with total viewers and in its target demo, women 18-49. The show was also SOAPnet’s most-watched premiere with those groups and with women 18-34.
Night Shift, which tells of the nighttime escapes of the characters on the ABC daytime drama General Hospital, averaged 1 million total viewers, 498,000 of them women 18-49 from 11 p.m. to midnight, according to Nielsen Media Research. It drew 192,000 women 18-34.
In addition to posting 63% audience growth over its lead-in, the show ranked as the second most-viewed cable program for the hour with women 18-49, something of a coup for SoapNet since only 64 million homes carry the network, compared to the 94 million that carry USA, the top network in the demo that night.
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Night Shift is one of several new originals SOAPnet has planned. The Disney/ABC-owned cable network primarily runs same-day reruns of soaps at night, including GeneralHospitaland the other ABC daytime dramas.
