ITV ANNOUNCE SCHEDULE CHANGES TO EMMERDALE AND CORONATION STREET FROM MARCH 2022

ITV have today announced major changes to its early evening schedule.

The ITV Evening News will now broadcast for an hour weekdays from 6:30pm on ITV. The programme will continue to be presented by Mary Nightingale. All changes will come into effect from March. More details on ITV News can be found here.

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.

Coronation Street and Emmerdale 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.

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...

“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.”

All changes will come into effect from March 2022. More details will be revealed in due course.