Ratings from the 70's

[EONGLOLTL]

Thrilling to see Edge of Night at a 6.3 in October 79.  Imagine how much higher their ratings could have been with a higher station clearance.   

[Paul Raven]

1977

NBC also said it would begin running Chico and the Man next Monday (May 9, 12:30 -1 p.m.), replacing new soap opera, Lovers and Friends (with 3.0 rating and 12 share in first 64 episodes), which "will go on a summer hiatus," according to NBC.

Edited August 10, 2021 by Paul Raven

[soapfave06]

Just read back through the pages here and it amazes me looking at all the ratings how all over the place they are. ABC seemed more patient with their soaps which paid off in the long run while NBC let AW and DAYS rot in the late 70s and CBS/P&G systemetically destroyed their soaps I guess due to timeslot changes and bad executive producer/head writer changes. A lot of short lived soaps that deeply interest me were doing a helluvah lot better than soaps still on today in various postings. 

 

The only other guess I have as to the ratings being dramatically all over the place is that more of the soaps had better quality back then so people were checking them all out. Sad to think by the time I started ratings were so stagnant it would never happen again. 

 

I truly wish ATWT and GL/OLTL and AMC had just dropped the hour format and done thirty minutes and hell if that failed then 15 minutes. 

[Paul Raven]

Sept 71 Daytime TV (so a few months before in reality)

1. ATWT 44 share

2. EON 36 share

3. GH 33 share

4. DOOL.33 share

5.TD 33 share

6. GL 31 share

7. SFT 36 share

8. LIAMST 31 share

9. AW 29 share

10.SS 27 share

[jam6242]

Didn't Days knock ATWT out of the top spot for a while shortly after this?  I'm surprised that AW was so far down on the list.

[Paul Raven]

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Paul Raven

[jam6242]

Thanks!  I remember reading an article from the time that said that was the first time in 11 years that ATWT had been knocked out of first place.

Edited July 1, 2020 by jam6242

[titan1978]

You know, I am one of those people that enjoyed Y&R in the Bill Bell days, but found it boring compared to the the ABC shows and DAYS, which held my attention more as a kid and teen.  However, there is no denying that he and his teams create shows that resonate with a daytime audience for long stretches of time.

 

Its kind of incredible.

[Paul Raven]

Yes I believe that Edge of Night was a weekly winner in October 1960 and after that ATWT was #1 every week .

[Chrissy81730]

Genie Francis really was utilized beautifully during the rise of GH.. . By The July wedding of her to Scotty in 1979 - the show rose to #2  8.5 rating and would be #1 by next summer.. (1981) being their greatest year ratings wise. I read they averaged 15 million viewers a day. Marvelous. Gloria Monty was a great producer. Tremendously talented actress. 

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[Paul Raven]

Feb 78

ABC -TV, which has been steadily ganing ground in daytime ratings against long time leader CBS -TV, appears to have edged into the number one position with a string of wins since the first of the year,

 

The most recent Nielsen standings show ABC with an 8.2 average for the two weeks ending Feb. 3, with CBS pulling a 7.9 and NBC -TV a 6.6. A number of factors have probably contributed to the turnover. ABC's recent gains in TV affiliates and the resulting improved clearances haven't hurt. All three networks lost daytime viewers with the drops in homes using television over the last year, but ABC lost less than its competitors.

 

According to ABC's figures, its HUT levels in the fourth quarter of 1977 were 3% off what they were for the same period in 1976, while CBS was off 13% and NBC 14 %. Probably most importantly, ABC has made a number of changes in its daytime schedule in the last year, with the goal of establishing a solid block of soap operas in the afternoon All My Children was expanded from 30 minutes to an hour last April, and General Hospital and One Life to Live both expanded from 45 minutes to an hour Jan. 16. ABC is convinced the strategy has worked, and the numbers don't contradict that view.

[Paul Raven]

In it's first week on air 'How to Survive a Marriage' averaged a 20 share in the 3.30 timeslot. That was one share under what Return to Peyton Place had been doing.

I guess NBC hoped for better but were probably realistic that a new show would take time to build. However HTSAM never seemed to gain momentum and was cancelled.

[Paul Raven]

The first 2 90 min specials on ABC 'Honeymoon Suite' and 'This Child Is Mine' won their timeslots.

ABC pre-empted gameshows for these and the results were:

Honeymoon Suite 9.9/33

This Child Is Mine (with Rosemary Prinz and Robin Strasser) 10.0/35

Of course they cost far more than the game shows to produce.

ABC continued with  more 90 min specials and CBS followed suit but I think ratings dropped as the novelty wore off and ultimately it was just not cost effective.

[Paul Raven]

ABC won the daytime ratings for week ending Jan 9 1972. It was it's second weekly win in a row.

ABC 8.7/29

NBC 8.0

CBS 7.7

Top 4

1. General Hospital

2. As The World Turns

3. Newlywed Game

4. Hollywood Squares

None of ABC's afternoon programs ran 3rd in their timeslots.

[Paul Raven]

Sept 25-29 1972

NBC 7.4

ABC 7.3

CBS 7.0

ABC did not program 10-11.30 at that point.

Somerset was leading the pack at 4pm with a 7.1 v ABC Love American Style reruns 6.0 and CBS Family affair reruns 4.3

So at one point Somerset was a ratings success.