Channel 4 has dropped long-running soap Hollyoaks from its weekday schedule after almost 28 years.
The Cheshire-based show has been a mainstay of the 6.30pm slot from Mondays to Fridays but will now premiere on the Channel 4 streaming service each weekday.
E4's 7pm screening of the soap will continue, with episodes airing on the channel a day after their online premiere, while the linear Channel 4 network will carry on showing an omnibus at weekends.
The broadcaster has also announced that it will make episodes available via YouTube on a weekly basis, one week after their streaming and E4 transmissions.
© Lime Pictures
Explaining the move, C4 cited figures showing that 63% of Hollyoaks viewers already watch the soap via online or E4, with 556 million minutes being streamed in the first half of this year.
Ian Katz, C4's chief content officer, said: "Hollyoaks has always been the youngest and most innovative soap so it's fitting that it should be the first to embrace the changes in the behaviour of younger viewers and switch to a genuinely digital-led release pattern.
"It was the first UK soap to move to a stream-first model last year and this is the next phase of that evolution.
"We hope making Hollyoaks available on YouTube, as well as our own platforms, will introduce a whole new generation to the show."
The new scheduling pattern begins on Monday, September 25 with a set of special Stunt Week episodes.
Neil Wilkes
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