ITV’s scheduling shake-up earlier in the year seems to have been a wise move, as both Coronation Street and Emmerdale have both flourished since the changes were made.
In February 2025, the broadcaster announced that it was altering its programming schedule for the ITV soaps, cutting down the total weekly runtimes by 30 minutes apiece while also covering every night of the week.
This meant that, with Emmerdale starting at 8pm before being followed by Corrie at 8.30pm, there was a new “soap power hour” between 8pm and 9pm. These changes came into effect in January, and it looks to have been a success.
ITV
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In a press release published on Thursday (2 April), ITV confirmed that both soaps were on an “upward trajectory”, with the 54 million streams on ITVX representing a viewing increase of over 40%.
This has helped the streamer to achieve 1 billion total streams for the year already, with the “landmark figure” being achieved eight days earlier than in 2025. This mark was bolstered by strong showings for sport and other drama, including crime drama Gone.
When the schedule shake-up was announced last year, ITV cited a change in viewing habits for the decision, with Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment, saying in a statement that “the new commissioning pattern is viewer-led”.
“We already give more choice than ever to viewers on how they watch us through ITVX and we want to present their favourite soap to them in the most digestible way,” the statement read.
“In a world where there is so much competition for viewers’ time and attention, and viewing habits continue to change, we believe this is the right amount of episodes that fans can fit into their viewing schedule, to keep up to date with the shows.
ITV
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“Research insights also show us that soap viewers are increasingly looking to the soaps for their pacey storytelling. Streaming-friendly, 30-minute episodes better provide the opportunity to meet viewer expectations for storyline pace, pay-off and resolution.
“Whilst viewing is growing on ITVX, we know a significant proportion of our soaps’ audience still watch us via the schedule. This new pattern is in the DNA of the soap genre – nobody else does 30-minute drama this successfully.”
While this scheduling shake-up was a permanent move, both soaps have had some temporary changes in recent weeks. With ITV showing live sport on some weekdays, the soaps have moved some episodes to Sundays.
Coronation Street airs on weeknights at 8.30pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX. Emmerdale airs on weeknights at 8pm on ITV1, and streams on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage
Read more Emmerdale spoilers on our dedicated homepage
For exclusive soap star interviews, gossip, spoilers and theories every week, don’t miss the Soap Scoop podcast from Inside Soap magazine. The latest episode delves into next week’s soap spoilers for EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale – as Cain Dingle is left for dead, Jasmine Fisher goes on trial, and Jodie Ramsey gets up to no good again.