(Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/Peacock)

It’s the end of an era. After more than 70 years, NBC is getting out of the soap opera business. The network’s last remaining daytime serial, Days of Our Lives, is moving to the Peacock streaming service as an exclusive in September for season 58. It will be replaced by a new series, NBC News Daily.
Premiering on November 8th of 1965, Days of Our Lives is set in the fictitious Midwestern town of Salem. It revolves around the members of the Brady, Horton, and DiMera families — along with their friends, enemies, and lovers. Season 57 cast members have included Lucas Adams, Lamon Archey, Lindsay Arnold, Camila Banus, Brandon Barash, Brandon Beemer, Nadia Bjorlin, Raven Bowens, Tamara Braun, Bryan Dattilo, Mary Beth Evans, Dan Feuerriegel, Billy Flynn, Galen Gering, Stacy Haiduk, Deidre Hall, Jackée Harry, Drake Hogestyn, Jay Kenneth Johnson, Lauren Koslow, Martha Madison, Eric Martsolf, Marci Miller, Stephen Nichols, Emily O’Brien, James Reynolds, Suzanne Rogers, Sal Stowers, Alison Sweeney, Josh Taylor, Paul Telfer, Robert Scott Wilson, and Arianne Zucker.

Days of Our Lives is the lowest-rated of the four remaining network daytime soap operas and is consistently beaten by The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS), General Hospital (ABC), and The Young and the Restless (CBS). The 57th season of Days has been averaging a 0.26 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 1.681 million viewers. Compared to season 56, that’s down by about 13% in the demo and 1% in total viewers.

The move to Peacock is not unexpected as more viewers have shifted to delayed viewing over the years. Peacock has also released two seasons of the Beyond Salem spin-off over the past 13 months, as well as A Very Salem Christmas movie last December. While Peacock offers paid versions of its streaming service, free tier subscribers can watch commercial-supported recent episodes of Days.

Here’s the announcement from NBC about Days of Our Lives’ departure from NBC:

DAYTIME DRAMA ‘DAYS OF OUR LIVES’ MAKES HISTORIC MOVE TO PEACOCK
“NBC News Daily” Comes to NBC Daytime in First-of-Its Kind Live News Offering
NEW YORK – Aug. 3, 2022 – NBC is evolving its daytime programming lineup with the move of “Days of Our Lives” to stream exclusively on Peacock and the launch of “NBC News Daily” in the drama’s former network timeslot.

Starting Sept. 12, Peacock will become the exclusive home of the fan-favorite drama “Days of Our Lives.” For the first time ever, all new episodes of the 58-time Emmy Award-winning drama will debut on Peacock daily with the show’s robust library already available to stream for Peacock Premium subscribers. The historic move to Peacock creates the ultimate destination for daytime fans to access the library, new episodes and Peacock Original “Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem” in one place.

Also beginning Sept. 12, in the timeslots previously occupied by “Days of Our Lives,” “NBC News Daily” will debut across NBC stations. NBC News will provide signature world-class reporting and breaking news coverage in a first-of-its kind, live in most markets mid-day news offering. “NBC News Daily,’’ an hourlong program anchored by NBC News’ team of award-winning journalists, including Kate Snow, Aaron Gilchrist, Vicky Nguyen and Morgan Radford, will provide viewers with up-to-the-minute national and international news, with the option for NBC stations to add local news. NBC News Daily” will also be streamed simultaneously on NBC News NOW and Peacock.

“This programming shift benefits both Peacock and NBC and is reflective of our broader strategy to utilize our portfolio to maximize reach and strengthen engagement with viewers,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “With a large percentage of the ‘Days of Our Lives’ audience already watching digitally, this move enables us to build the show’s loyal fanbase on streaming while simultaneously bolstering the network daytime offering with an urgent, live programming opportunity for partners and consumers.”

NBC owned stations will announce their specific daytime schedule soon.

ABOUT “DAYS OF OUR LIVES”
“Days of Our Lives,” a consistent favorite among fans and critics alike, aired it’s 14,000th episode in 2020 and remains NBC’s longest-running series. The show has garnered 58 Emmy Awards, including most recently 2018’s Outstanding Daytime Drama, and 372 nominations, as well as multiple People’s Choice Awards, GLAAD Media Awards, and Prism Awards. The show’s success stems from its consistent commitment to excellence in writing and storytelling – supported by a diverse ensemble of performers – and an uncanny knack for anticipating viewer interests. With its mix of classic genre traditions and groundbreaking narratives reflecting modern life, “Days of Our Lives” remains a perennial favorite among viewers of all ages. “Days of Our Lives” is produced by Corday Productions Inc. in association with Sony Pictures Television. Ken Corday is executive producer with co-executive producer Albert Alarr. Ron Carlivati is the head writer.

ABOUT NBC NEWS NOW
NBC News NOW is a 24-hour streaming network with over 10 live hours daily of best-in-class journalism. Featuring more live original programming than any other news streaming network, NBC News NOW is the fastest-growing streaming news network in the U.S. with both international and now domestic linear distribution.

NBC News NOW is ad-supported and is also distributed across Peacock, Fubo, Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, the Roku Channel, Tubi, Xumo, YouTube, YouTube TV and NBC News’ apps on Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV.

What do you think? Are you disappointed that Days of Our Lives is leaving NBC? Will you be watching on the free or paid version of Peacock?