This document analyzes the UK soap opera market. It discusses that the most popular soaps, EastEnders and Coronation Street, are produced by BBC and ITV respectively and broadcast on those channels. These soaps attract a mass audience aged 13-60. The document also notes that the soap EastEnders will be the most difficult to compete with because it has a much larger target audience range of 13-65 compared to the targeted younger audience of 16-25 for the new soap. EastEnders has also been recognized as the best British soap by awards and has the highest viewership according to ratings. To compete effectively, the document concludes that the new soap will need to target its broadcasts toward its intended younger audience.

1. MARKET ANALYSIS

2. The market is the
television industry. To
accurately gather
information regarding the
industry, I will research
other soap operas in the
UK, who produces them,
where they are broadcast
and the ratings they
receive. This will enable
me to better understand
the industry and which
soaps are likely to be
competitors of the one that
I will produce.
WHO PRODUCES SOAP
OPERA?
Some of the companies that
produce the soaps are part of
bigger media conglomerates; they
use their vertically integrated
companies to produce and
broadcast them. For example, the
BBC produce the popular soap
EastEnders, broadcasting it on
BBC1 and repeats on BBC3.
Similarly, Coronation Street is
produced by ITV and broadcast on
ITV.
International soaps, such as
Home and Away and Neighbours
are broadcast in this country but
come from Australia.
WHAT IS THE MARKET?

3. The television industry within soap operas reach a mass
audience. The broadcasting channels are usually very popular, as
shown by the following:
 EastEnders is produced by BBC and broadcast primarily BBC1
and later on BBC3.
 Coronation Street is produced by Granada TV, a subsidiary of
ITV, and also broadcasted on this channels. The soap attracts a
mass audience, likely to be aged 13 – 60 years old.
 Hollyoaks is a soap opera produced by 4 and broadcast on
Channel 4 and E4.
BROADCASTERS

4. MARKET RATINGS
0
2
4
6
8
million0.174

5. This shows that
the most
popular soap
opera, in the
publics opinion
is EastEnders as
they voted it
Best British
Soap in this
years awards. It
was also
awarded the
Best Storyline.
This shows that
EastEnders will
be my
productions
main
competitors as I
can see that the
narrative was
favoured by the
audience.
WHICH
SOAPS ARE
MOST
POPULAR?
http://www.britishsoapawards.tv/winners

6. How will my product compete with
existing soaps?
When I produce
my own soap
opera trailer, I
will target young
adults, aged 15
to 30. They will
fit into the D,
C1 and C2 socio-
economic
grouping as a
result of the
content and
character
stereotypes that
will be present
within the
trailer. I will do
this by making
use of
conventional
character
stereotypes
through costume
and prop, and
themes such as
teen pregnancy
and drug abuse.
MY TARGET
AUDIENCE
The soap that will be the most difficult to compete with is
EastEnders as a result of it’s mass audience. It targets an
audience with a massive age range, going from around 13
to 65. This gives the soap an advantage because it is able
to attract a bigger audience, whereas I will be targeting a
smaller audience of young adults aged 16 to 25. As a
result, my soap will attract a lesser audience.
EastEnders is also the soap opera most favoured by the
audience, as shown by digital spy, which showed that
EastEnders is the front runner based on views. Although
views decreased on that particular week as a result of
sports being on at the same time, it made up for the lost
views at the 10’o’clock repeat on BBC3. This is supported
by the British Soap Awards, as the public voted
EastEnders's to be the Best British Soap, while the panel
recognised it as the Best Storyline.
To compete with this, I will ensure that I choose the
broadcasting channel well so that my target audience may
see the trailer.