The day time soap opera is dying. Perhaps the most clear and recent evidence of its demise is the impending cancellation of long-running soaps All My Children and One Life To Live, shows that have been on the air for more than 40 years. Who's responsible? Is it Farmville?
That's the theory floated by Adweek and "experts" who believe that the rise in social games from the likes of Zynga and its lesser competitors may be the nail in the coffin of daytime drama. With Farmville and Cityville drawing tens of millions of people with little better to do than watch daily serials—and the aforementioned soaps struggling to pull in more than a million viewers—there may be some truth to that theory.
With more traditional games killing primetime, it only seems natural for daytime viewers to do the same to their formerly favorite programming.
Zynga Kills Soaps [Adweek]