It featured onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information.

Founded in 1975, the magazine historically included certain prime time soap operas in its coverage as well.

Soap Opera Digest debuted in November 1975, co-founded by Angela Shapiro and Jerome Shapiro[2] and founding Editor Ruth J Gordon and featuring actors John Aniston, Ron Tomme, Audrey Peters, Birgitta Tolksdorf, Jerry Lacy, and Tudi Wiggins of Love of Life on its first cover.

[citation needed] In 1980, Network Publishing Corporation purchased the magazine from Shapiro, who went on to found Soap Opera Update.

For example, current soap operas and their acronyms include General Hospital (GH), The Bold and the Beautiful (B&B), and The Young and the Restless (Y&R).

Abbreviations used for now-defunct series include All My Children (AMC), Another World (AW), As the World Turns (ATWT), The Edge of Night (EON), Guiding Light (GL), Love of Life (LOL), One Life to Live (OLTL), Port Charles (PC), Ryan's Hope (RH), and Search for Tomorrow (SFT).

Prime time soap operas have also been attributed with acronyms and abbreviations in the magazine, including Beverly Hills, 90210 (90210), Melrose Place (MP) and Dynasty (DYN).