EastEnders and Coronation Street ‘see big drops in ratings as more viewers turn to Netflix’

Hit British soaps including EastEnders and Coronation Street have seen a significant drop in their viewing figures, it has been claimed.

According to data published by The Mirror, Corrie’s audience has fallen by 19 per cent in the past four years while EastEnders has fell by around 37 per cent. 

The numbers also showed the amount of people tuning into watch TV is down nine per cent in the first eight weeks of 2021 compared to the same time period in 2017. 

Slump: EastEnders and Coronation Street have seen a significant drop in their viewing figures, it has been claimed (Kellie Bright and Danny Dyer seen as Linda and Mick Carter in EastEnders) 

As well as EastEnders and Coronation Street’s viewing figures being down, ITV soap Emmerdale also saw their numbers drop by 22 per cent in the period compared.

Writing in Broadcast ­magazine ratings expert Stephen Price said: ‘The soaps’ dominance of traditional TV appears to be on the wane, no longer impervious to challenge from the linear opposition and losing fans to the streamers.

‘With volume falling faster than overall TV viewing and the challenge of other genres more keenly felt, soaps’ all-conquering prowess is ­disappearing.’

The study also reportedly found that younger viewers had turned away from soaps in general, claiming that EastEnders lost 53 per cent of viewers aged 16-34.   

Smaller audience: TV viewers across the board are thought to be down, not just for the soaps (Ben Price as Nick Tilsley on Coronation Street)  

ITV told The Mirror: ‘ITV soaps are consistently amongst the most-watched programmes in primetime and they are in the top three most streamed on ITV Hub.’

While a BBC spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘A growing proportion of EastEnders’ viewing and the majority for under 35s is via BBC iPlayer where the audience value the ability to watch it on demand. 

‘Since the show returned to air in September 2020, it has generated 149 million iPlayer streaming requests, making it one of the service’s very best performing programmes.’

MailOnline has contacted ITV for a comment. 

Despite the fall, EastEnders and Corrie still manage to maintain overall viewing figures in the millions. 

An Ofcom investigation into why TV audience sizes were dropping in 2018 also revealed that ‘decreasing popularity of soaps is driving overall decline’.

On the out? Ratings expert Stephen Price said ‘the soaps’ dominance of traditional TV appears to be on the wane’ (Members of the Emmerdale cast are pictured in 2018 still)

There has been a shift in what people watch over the years, with Eastenders, Corrie and Emmerdale averaging around 8.7m viewers between them in 2007.

However ten years later in 2017 the three soaps had 6.9m people tuning in to watch.

And last March EastEnders’ ratings saw a huge surge, with highs of 9.32m watching amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Over 3million more viewers tuned in than the average episode of the soap, with the show coming directly before Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the nation about a lockdown to help tackle the spread of the deadly virus.

The Sun reported that the average figure across the episode was 6.49million, while Coronation Street garnered 6.43million viewers in its first episode of the night.