ITV has announced Emmerdale and Coronation Street will no longer air at their usual times.
Making several changes to their pre-9pm schedule, ITV is extending its national and international news bulletin.
The evening news programme will be extended to an hour, with even more focus on reporting from outside of London feeding into the programme, to reflect the whole of the UK.
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Also announced today, ITV’s soaps are to move into new schedule slots, with Coronation Street moving to hour-long episodes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8pm, and Emmerdale moving further into peak with a consistent 7.30pm slot.
The new schedule will start in March.
Announcing the changes, ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment, Kevin Lygo said: “As viewing habits rapidly change, live audiences to our national and international news programmes remain remarkably strong.
"Our evening news programme reached an impressive 35.6 million viewers in 2021.
"We are very excited to be announcing this investment in what is an important public service strength of ITV - high-quality, impartial, trusted broadcast journalism - at a time when it could not be more important.
"The nation’s two most popular continuing dramas, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, are fundamental to the success of ITV, and we know that, as with all dramas, viewers increasingly watch them whenever, and however they choose.
"The new scheduling means that viewers can watch them live on TV in one go in a continuous soap fix, as well as on ITV Hub where they are regularly in the most-watched shows every month.”
Coronation Street, the nation’s biggest soap, is to move to three hour-long episodes, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm, and Emmerdale, which has a big year ahead celebrating its 50th birthday in 2022, will move to a 7.30pm slot.
The soaps continue to be the nation’s most popular continuing dramas, averaging consolidated audiences of over 5 million viewers in 2021, including catch up viewing on ITV Hub.
Coronation Street has aired as both hour-long episodes, and two 30 minute episodes in recent years on Fridays, and audience data shows a clear preference for the hour-long episodes, which attract higher TV audiences.
John Whiston, ITV's Managing Director of Continuing Drama said: “With Coronation Street bursting at the seams with fantastic story and character, the new format gives the show a brilliant new canvas on which to shine.
And Emmerdale will do what it does best in this new time slot where viewers can continue to enjoy the dramatic goings-on in the Dales.”
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