Commercial broadcaster changing times of two of its most popular shows to make them more streaming-friendly.
- Creation of new soap “power hour”.
- ITV turns its back on extended episodes of Emmerdale and Coronation Street.
- Will have knock-on effect on earlier schedules.
- Martin Lewis show will have to move.
ITV has confirmed it will be stripping its two main soaps across the week at 8pm from 2026.
Emmerdale will move to the new permanent time of 8pm. Coronation Street will be shown at 8:30pm on weeknights. The broadcaster will move away from hour-long episodes which currently dominate schedules.
Both soaps used to be broadcast an hour earlier. However, over the years, ITV has experimented with longer episodes, or double episodes, split by another programme. ITV has also on occasion scheduled soaps to avoid clashing with EastEnders, something it no longer does now the BBC soap has a fixed timeslot of 7:30pm.
Despite the change, the soaps will continue to be available to watch on ITVX from 7am each morning.
ITV’s Kevin Lygo said the decision was “viewer-led” and meant that both soaps would be in a more “digestable way”.
He confirmed that both soaps will mark the schedule changes with a “never before seen stunt”.
Triggers changes to earlier schedules
The change will have a knock-on effect on ITV1’s 7pm hour, which last saw changes in 2022. Back then, the ITV Evening News was extended by 30 minutes, running into the timeslot previously occupied by Emmerdale. That resulted in both soaps moving later into the evening. Currently, the ITV News flexes in length to accomodate other programmes. For example, on Monday 3rd February, the news was shortened to make way for an hour long Emmerdale. On Thursday 6th, schedules change to make way for live football.
The decision to keep the soaps at 30 minutes and run them at 8pm should allow for more consistent scheduling.
But the changes also means its consumer focused The Martin Lewis Money Show will be pushed out of its regular 8pm timeslot, alongside other shows that currently squeeze inbetween the soaps.
ITV hasn’t confirmed its plans for the vacated 7:30pm slot and whether it will strip a new programme format across weekdays or make even bolder changes.
Corporate comment
Kevin Lygo, Managing Director of Media and Entertainment at ITV said:
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. 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. 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.”
By: Marc Thornham | Image: ITV Studios