Ratings from the 80's

[Paul Raven]

As there is a thread for ratings from the 60's and 70's, I thought I'd get one going for the 80's.ABC pretty much dominated but hopefully we can post figures that give a clearer picture and show fluctuations and any inroads made by CBS and NBC.

From Variety Aug 13th 1982

For the two weeks previous AMC had outrated GH with a 9.9/32 share making it the #1 soap.

[DRW50]

Thanks for sharing this info.

[cityfan01]

I often wonder how ratings in the past were affected by antenna signals. Where I grew up, in northern Minnesota, ABC was the channel that came in the clearest with our rabbit ears, so that's what we mainly watched.

[Gray Bunny]

I'd sure like to see the numbers during the 3 weeks in the summer of 1984 that Guiding Light hit No. 1. Also, did DAYS ever hit #1 in the 80's, like during Patch & Kayla's wedding? And the week of Steve and Betsy's wedding on ATWT, which allegedly earned 20 million viewers. And did One Life to Live ever hit #1? Questions, questions

[Paul Raven]

Daytime ratings week ending Oct 28th 1983

ABC 6.6 23

CBS 6.8 25

NBC 4.5 17

[Paul Raven]

For week ending August 12 1983

In.daytime Nielsen's, CBS and ABC tied in ratings with 6.9 each, although CBS inched ahead in shares to 25 against ABC's 23. NBC

moved closer, however, in narrowing its daytime gap by scoring 5.5/20, second time in three weeks its daytime schedule scored

5.5 and fifth consecutive week it scored 19 share or better. For first time in eight years, NBC said, it had four of top 10 daytime pro-

grams.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Paul Raven

[Paul Raven]

Over the first three days, Santa Barbara averaged a 3.5/11 in Nielsen's eight metered markets, according to NBC. That compares to an average of 4.2/ 14 for the Match Game - /Hollywood Squares Hour in the 3-4 slot over the previous four weeks. But the numbers for Santa Barbara steadily declined over the first three days. For Santa Barbara's premiere on Monday (July 30) it averaged s 4.4/14, compared to a 3.4/11 on Tuesday and a 2.8/9 on Wednesday.

[Paul Raven]

From Broadcasting magazine

NBC's success in prime time has tended to cloud its performance in daytime, where it lags behind the other two networks. But here, too, NBC executives said there are signs of improvement, albeit not as fast as perhaps they would hope.

All three networks are down in daytime ratings compared to a year ago. NBC has averaged a 4.9/18 rating for the first 10 months of this year (January- October), 4% off the 5.1/18 it averaged for the first 10 months of 1984; ABC averaged a 6.2/22 compared to a 6.4/22 last year, off 3%; CBS averaged a 6.3/23 compared to a 7.1/25, off 11 %. The stability of the prime time schedule now affords Tartikoff more time to spend on daytime problems -he says he spends twice as much time on daytime programming as he did a year ago when prime time was his main preoccupation. And daytime, according to NBC group vice president Robert Butler, is the principal reason NBC has not yet reached the operating profit levels of either ABC or CBS.

NBC's principal daytime effort has been the new soap Santa Barbara, which it intro- duced 15 months ago. Between July 30 -Oct. 26, 1984, the soap opera averaged a 3.2/10. But between July 29 -Oct. 25, 1985, Santa Barbara averaged a 3.6/12, a 13% gain.

[Paul Raven]

May 85 ratings report

In the current quarter to date, Santa Barbara is averaging a 3.8/11 in the first quarter compared to 7.6/23 for CBS's Guiding Light and 9.3/28 for ABC's General Hospital.

[Paul Raven]

Top 10 daytime shows April 15 - 19 1985

1. General Hospital (ABC), 8.1/28

2. Price Is Right (CBS), 7.4/34

3. All My Children (ABC) 7.3/27

4. The Young and the Restless (CBS)7.2/30

5. Guiding Light (CBS), 7.2/25

6. As the World Turns (CBS), 7.0/26

7. Wheel of Fortune (NBC), 6.7/31

8. Days of Our Lives (NBC), 6.5/24

9. Price is Right (CBS), 6.2/29

10.One Life to Live (ABC), 6.2/23.

[DRW50]

Thanks for doing this.

[Paul Raven]

August 83

Daytime race among three networks is getting hotter. For week of July 25, according to NBC, CBS and ABC tied with 6.7 rating, while NBC scored 5.5, closest it has been to competition in five years. In shares, CBS had 24, ABC 23 and NBC 20- closest NBC has been to ABC since March 1980.

[watson71]

Wasn't August 1983 the time when Bo and Hope were gaining popularity on DAYS while AW was in the middle of the "Who Killed Alma Rudder?" mystery along with the double wedding of Mac & Rachel and Sandy & Blaine? Makes sense that NBC would see a spike in the ratings.

[Dale]

According to some old mags and clippings I have, OLTL reached #1 (tied with Y&R) for the conclusion of the Faux Bo storyline in August 1988.

And I have an interview with Rauch where he claimed the final week of Eterna reached #1. I have my doubts on that.

[Paul Raven]

Sept 26 - Nov 4 1988

1.Y&R 7.6 30

2. GH 7.5 27

3. OLTL 6.5 25

4. AMC 6.4 24

5. DOOL 6.2 22

6. ATWT 6.2 22

7. GL 5.8 20

8. TPIR 5.3 25

9. B&B 5.3 19

10. AW 4.5 17

Edited May 30, 2014 by Paul Raven