Coronation Street and Emmerdale will adopt a new schedule from January 2026, ITV has announced.
Corrie currently broadcasts hour-long episodes at 8pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while the action from the Dales airs weekdays at 7.30pm - with Thursday's episode running to one hour.
From next year, however, both soaps will broadcast on all five weekdays, with Emmerdale airing at 8pm and Coronation Street at 8.30pm in what the broadcaster is dubbing a "soaps power hour".
The news means a reduction of 30 minutes a week for both shows and comes amid ongoing cost-cutting that has seen multiple stars exit and a reduction in episodes for more established and expensive cast members.
In a lengthy statement, ITV's entertainment MD Kevin Lygo explained: "The new commissioning pattern is viewer-led. 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. Whilst viewing is growing on ITVX, we know a significant proportion of our soaps' audience still watch us via the schedule. This new pattern is in the DNA of the soap genre - nobody else does 30 minute drama this successfully.
"It creates a soap power hour that's consistent, and easy to find in the linear schedule, for the UK's biggest soaps.
"This new commissioning pattern will mean five hours of soaps a week, rather than the current six. We are conscious this 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.
"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."
New episodes of both soaps will continue to premiere on ITVX at 7am on the day of transmission once the new schedule comes into effect.
Neil Wilkes
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