ITV makes huge announcement about Coronation Street and Emmerdale airtimes
TV channel ITV have announced some huge changes for their well known soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale. This will include shorter episodes and different air times.
The changes won't come into play until January 2026 when Coronation Street and Emmerdale will move to a new scheduling pattern on ITV1, introducing a soaps power hour from Monday-Friday, with 30 minute Emmerdale episodes at 8pm, and 30 minute Coronation Street episodes at 8.30pm.
Episodes will continue to drop at 7am on ITVX, before transmission that evening. The start of the 2026 schedule will be marked in spectacular style, as both soaps embark on an ambitious, never before seen stunt as part of a week of special episodes. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter.
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The new schedule chimes with research insights that show 30 minute episodes attracted higher audiences in 2024, and deliver more digestible installments of continuing drama that better fits with changing viewer habits. The change will mean that Coronation Street will be cut from hour long episodes to 30 minute long episodes.
Coronation Street and Emmerdale are the UK’s biggest soaps with a combined weekly reach of over 8 million viewers. ITV's managing director of media and entertainment Kevin Lygo said: "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."
