Ratings from the 70's

[YRfan23]

Thank you so much for these continuing posts!  
 

@Broderick@vetsoapfan is it confirmed that the term “breakout” refers to an episode that is repeated? I’m referring to Y&R and OLTL that don’t have Monday 9/4/78 as “preempted” but basically said that episode didn’t reflect the ratings, unless some affiliates got an episode that day and some didn’t? 

[JAS0N47]

As far as I know, all breakout means is the network tells Nielsen it does not want that episode counted as part of the weekly/yearly averages, since those breakout episodes (airing on much smaller amount of affiliates) would bring down the overall weekly/yearly averages.  It does not mean it is a repeat. What I had said earlier about the YR 9/4/78 is that I could not confirm whether it was a new episode or a repeat just on the basis of it being a breakout.

[kalbir]

@JAS0N47 Thank you for the ratings in this thread and in the 1980s thread. It's a great look back at daytime history.

[BoldRestless]

Looking through the ratings reports from @Errol "breakout" typically means it was a repeat or the majority of the episode was interrupted by news, therefore it's a special that doesn't count in the ratings. It would be interesting to know if there's some kind of criteria the network needs to meet, or else they could just call their lower rated episodes "breakouts." 

[JAS0N47]

It would be helpful if Days could have a "breakout" in the 1978-1980 ratings, since I can confirm Days never aired a repeat during that time frame.

In these cases in 1978, there were not news interruptions, just a much smaller amount of affiliates airing the shows that day.

[YRfan23]

Thanks, it’s too bad they are vague with that but I’m excited to see the other weeks leading towards the end of the year, that will help too.

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[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 9/18/78-9/22/78 & 9/25/78-9/29/78:

 

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FROM THE VAULT: 1977-1978 TV SEASON DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS:

 

 

Due to Nielsen's error, I used the most recent season averages (ending 9/15/78) for the 5 CBS soaps, but they do not include the final two weeks of the season (9/18/78-9/29/78).

Edited June 13, 2023 by JAS0N47

[Soapsuds]

ATWT solid at #3. 

[JAS0N47]

In regards to the 1977-1978 TV season ratings, since I see they differ from the ones posted at Wiki, what accounts for the difference? 

Are the ones at Wiki only for September-April/May and not counting the summer months?

If so, what week in 1978 should I post the "season" averages for. Something around late April/early May?

UPDATE: Okay, I just read the Wiki page again and it states it is only the September-April ratings. Unfortunately, that is the one issue (late April 1978) that I do not have, so we won't be able to compare the ratings for the 1977-1978 season to see how they do.

But at least now we know that there will be "full season" (October-September) ratings for 1978, 1979 and 1980 available for the first time online. Hopefully Nielsen doesn't make that same mistake in September 1979 with the CBS soaps.

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by JAS0N47

[JoeCool]

You posted Nielsen yearly season which was September to September.

The networks official season ran from September through April.

 

Eventually the networks did yearly seasons for daytimes sometime in the late 1990s.

[Broderick]

My understanding is there's a limit on the number of "breakouts" (or uncounted episodes) they can air in a single season.

If they know in advance the rest of the  line-up is going to be preempted, such as for the U.S. Open back in the day, they might have one new episode of one series that aired in select time zones and was preempted in other time zones due to the Open coverage.  Or maybe that episode would air in all of the time zones, but would play to a limited audience due to the rest of the line-up being preempted.  That would be an example of one they would ask Nielsen NOT to count.   

[YRfan23]

Thanks for that explanation!

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so is it possible that maybe some affiliates did get new episodes of Y&R that day and others didn’t? Would they just show the same episode on Tuesday if that was the case so the other affiliates could catch up?

[Broderick]

Yes, if there was some special event (such as the U.S. Open coverage around Labor Day), sometimes Eastern Time and Central Time would get an episode that couldn't be shown on the West Coast.  Maybe the West Coast got it later in the day, or maybe it was just skipped entirely. 

That would sometimes happen if the US Open Coverage started at 1:00 Eastern and ran until 5:30 Eastern.  Such a schedule wouldn't preempt Y&R and Search for Tomorrow on the East Coast and Central Time, but would obviously preclude the shows from being seen in Mountain & Pacific Time.      

[JAS0N47]

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 10/2/78-10/6/78 & 10/9/78-10/13/78:

 

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Edited June 14, 2023 by JAS0N47

[JoeCool]

10/2: Wow! Guiding Light and As the World Turns battling it out for Number 1. Y&R Number 3. AMC No 4.

10/9: All My Children Number 1 and GH a close Number 2 with a lower share.  What caused DAYS drop? Y and R still strong. AW tying OLTL??!