BREAKING SH0CK NEWS: ITV brings Emmerdale & Corrie to international audiences on Y0uTube – Cuts and Schedule Changes spark anger among British viewers!
ITV, the renowned British broadcaster, has just announced a major change in how audiences can watch its iconic long-running dramas: Emmerdale and Coronation Street. This change takes effect immediately and promises to please loyal viewers both at home and abroad.
Until now, fans had to wait for fixed evening time slots to catch the latest episodes. However, to compete directly with the BBC and EastEnders, ITV began last year to release each new episode of Emmerdale and Coronation Street on its streaming platform ITVX in the morning of the same broadcast day.
Now, ITV goes a step further by allowing viewers to stream the newest episodes directly on YouTube. Starting from June 30, episodes of Emmerdale and Coronation Street will be uploaded to ITV’s official YouTube channel at 7 a.m.—on the same day they air on television. This means fans can watch at any time during the day, free from the constraints of traditional schedules.
The news quickly spread across social media and was warmly welcomed by fans, especially international viewers who had previously struggled to access ITV content. Some typical comments included: “Awesome! Viewers in the U.S. can watch too!”, “This is great news, hope it stays this way!”, and “Hopefully they keep it on YouTube because I can’t use the ITV app.”
However, alongside this positive move, ITV also announced another, more controversial change: a reduction in the number of episodes aired each week. Currently, Emmerdale airs six episodes weekly (Monday to Friday, with a double bill on Thursdays), and Coronation Street also airs six episodes (two episodes each on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). From 2026, each series will drop to just five 30-minute episodes per week, amounting to about a 17% cut in broadcast time.
To balance this, ITV will introduce a dedicated “power hour” slot for its soaps from Monday to Friday, with Emmerdale airing at 8 p.m. and Coronation Street following at 8:30 p.m. Additionally, to “appease” fans, the network plans to kick off the new broadcast year with a special week of episodes featuring never-before-seen stunts.
Kevin Lygo, ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment, explained that the episode reduction is meant to align with evolving viewing habits: “We want to offer flexibility, making it easier for viewers to keep up with their favourite shows despite increasingly limited time.”
Meanwhile, over at the BBC, a similar approach is already in place: fans can watch new episodes of EastEnders from 6 a.m. on iPlayer, ahead of the evening broadcast on BBC One.
ITV’s changes clearly reflect a broader trend in the television industry: moving away from the rigidity of traditional scheduling towards meeting audiences’ demand to watch “anytime, anywhere.” For Emmerdale and Coronation Street—both cultural institutions with over 60 years of history—this is a bold but necessary step to stay competitive in an era dominated by digital platforms.