ITV soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale are to see their content cut by an hour a week between them from next year.
Coronation Street currently airs for three hour-long episodes a week, while Emmerdale is four 30-minute episodes plus one hour-long instalment.
From January 2026, both soaps will only air 30-minute episodes, with a “soaps power hour” every week day featuring Emmerdale at 8pm and Coronation Street at 8.30pm.
Episodes will continue to be released at 7am on ITVX before airing on ITV later that evening.
ITV boss Kevin Lygo said the change is “viewer-led” and will make the soaps more “streaming-friendly”.
Performing arts union Equity said the move, which comes after the cancellation of BBC soap Doctors and changes to Channel 4’s Hollyoaks schedule, gives it “further cause for concern”, but added that ITV has said it “will not directly impact the cast or result in changes to pay or contracts”.
Lygo added: “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.
He acknowledged that going from the current six hours a week to five will “have an impact for the people who work on the soaps team”.
“We will support our colleagues in ITV Studios as they work through these changes, and will do what we can to mitigate the impact on our people,” he said.
“These changes are motivated by doing what we believe is best for the continuing success of these important programmes in the long term.
“They also create headroom in the overall programme budget for investment in programming that can help ITV grow reach in a very, very competitive market.”
Emmerdale and Coronation Street have gone through several schedule changes over the years. Both began with only two episodes a week before increasing to six weekly episodes in later years.
While Equity acknowledged the assurance from ITV, the union’s TV official Natalie Barker said: “We do know that fewer episodes will mean fewer opportunities for work for our members engaged as guest and supporting artists on these productions.
“This is a significant loss for our members in the North East and North West regions and continues the ongoing trend of fewer opportunities for screen work, especially in the regions and for early career actors.”
In the past few years, there has been a downturn in advertising revenue, part of a funding squeeze throughout the TV industry.
Among other long-running dramas, the BBC has axed Doctors and Holby City, and trimmed the number of episodes of Casualty (but has revived Waterloo Road). Channel 5 also axed its funding for Neighbours.
Channel 4’s Hollyoaks also went from five episodes to three last year.
