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.

Even in that partial episode, @Soapsuds, I felt like ATWT was all over the place during that period.  So many characters and storylines that don't seem to have a real direction. They were very fortunate to have as good of a cast as they had back then to get them through the rough spots.

August 2-6 1982

1. AMC 9.9/32

2. GH 9.5/33

3. OLTL 8.4/30

4. Y&R 8.2/30

5. ATWT 7.5/25

6. GL 7.3/25

7. RH 7.9/26

8. DOOL 6.4/20

9. CAP 5.8/21

10. AW 4.9/17

11. EON 4.3/15

12. TX 3.1/13

12.SFT 3.1/11

14. TD 2.4/9

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 12/31/79-1/4/80 & 1/7/80-1/11/80:

In order not to make 1980's fans wait for me to finish posting 1978 and 1979 ratings, I will start rotating and posting 1980 Nielsen ratings too!

1980 is the first year that is fully complete, so all 52 weeks will be posted.

 

It is mind boggling how swiftly the ratings changed or perhaps how much they destroyed the shows 

Ryan’s Hope and Another World were performing rather well before heading to the doldrums of the ratings and SEARCH is in the middle of the rankings, at the bottom in two short years. 

The Doctors was even ahead of DAYS! 

On 5/3/2023 at 9:48 AM, tybuki said:

Paul Raven do you have any listings from the mid-80's that contain the ratings for ALL of daytime? I'm curious how all the shows rated back then.

I posted these two on my website awhile back. They are from the Nielsen reports I happened to find in a box of Days things a long time ago.

 

Daytime network ratings for the week of 6/10/85-6/14/85

Rank. Series Network..Rating/Share

 

1. The Price Is Right 2 CBS..9.2/35

*. General Hospital ABC..9.2/29

3. All My Children ABC..8.8/28

4. The Young and the Restless CBS..8.3/29

5. One Life to Live ABC..7.8/26

6. Wheel of Fortune NBC..7.3/28

7. The Price Is Right 1 CBS..7.1/27

*. Days of Our Lives NBC..7.1/23

*. Guiding Light CBS..7.1/23

10. As the World Turns CBS..6.4/21

11. Another World NBC..5.7/19

12. The $25,000 Pyramid CBS..5.3/21

*. Capitol CBS..5.3/18

14. Scrabble NBC..5.2/20

15. Press Your Luck CBS..5.0/19

16. Sale of the Century NBC..4.9/19

17. Loving ABC..4.4/15

18. The Facts of Life NBC..4.0/16

19. Super Password NBC..3.8/14

*. Santa Barbara NBC..3.8/12

21. Search for Tomorrow NBC..3.4/12

22. Ryan's Hope ABC..3.0/11

23. Family Feud ABC..2.6/10

24. All-Star Blitz ABC..2.5/10

25. Body Langauge CBS..2.2/07

 

Daytime network ratings for the week of 6/17/85-6/21/85

Rank. Series Network..Rating/Share

1. The Price Is Right 2 CBS..9.4/36

2. General Hospital ABC..9.2/30

3. All My Children ABC..8.7/28

4. One Life to Live ABC..7.8/27

5. The Young and the Restless CBS..7.7/27

6. Wheel of Fortune NBC..7.3/29

7. The Price Is Right 1 CBS..7.1/28

8. Days of Our Lives NBC..6.6/21

*. Guiding Light CBS..6.6/22

10. As the World Turns CBS..6.5/21

11. Sale of the Century NBC..5.7/22

12. Capitol CBS..5.5/19

13. Another World NBC..5.2/18

*. Scrabble NBC..5.2/20

15. The $25,000 Pyramid CBS..5.1/20

16. Press Your Luck CBS..4.7/18

17. The Facts of Life NBC..4.5/18

18. Loving ABC..4.3/15

19. Super Password NBC..3.9/14

20. Santa Barbara NBC..3.5/11

21. Ryan's Hope ABC..3.2/12

*. Search for Tomorrow NBC..3.2/11

23. Angie ABC..3.0/12

24. All-Star Blitz ABC..2.9/11

25. Body Language CBS..2.1/07

 

CBS was really shaken in 1980. Love of Life ended, Y&R expanded to 1 hour, the new soap schedule did not work.

Why is Price is Right listed twice

8 minutes ago, TVFAN1144 said:

Why is Price is Right listed twice

Nielsen divides PIR into the 1st Half Hour Price 1 and 2nd half Price 2.

 

31 minutes ago, JoeCool said:

Nielsen divides PIR into the 1st Half Hour Price 1 and 2nd half Price 2.

 

I think that's CBS' choice, since the second half gets a bigger rating than the first half.

2 hours ago, JAS0N47 said:

I think that's CBS' choice, since the second half gets a bigger rating than the first half.

That is true. 

 

I know Nielsen measures every 30 minutes in Daytime. For Example, All My Children 1:00 to 1:30PM, All My Children 130PM to 2.

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 1/14/80-1/18/80 & 1/21/80-1/25/80:

1 minute ago, JAS0N47 said:

FROM THE VAULT: WEEKLY DAYTIME NIELSEN RATINGS: WEEKS OF 1/14/80-1/18/80 & 1/21/80-1/25/80:

Y&R and AMC battling it out for Number 2. A strong OLTL at Number 4. Also a strong Guiding Light and ATWT battling out for Number 5.

 

Thanks for posting!

We are one week away from the end of Love of Life, and two weeks away from 1 hour Y&R and the new CBS soap lineup.

Just now, kalbir said:

We are one week away from the end of Love of Life, and two weeks away from 1 hour Y&R and the new CBS soap lineup.

Very Interested to see the new CBS soap lineup and the ratings.

@JoeCool The CBS lineup starting February 4, 1980 was 12:30 pm ET Search for Tomorrow, 1 pm ET Y&R, 2 pm ET As the World Turns, 3 pm ET Guiding Light. 

Search for Tomorrow was now head-to-head w/ Ryan's Hope.

Y&R was now head-to-head w/ All My Children and Days.

As the World Turns was now head-to-head w/ One Life to Live and The Doctors/first 30 minutes of Another World.

Guiding Light was now head-to-head w/ General Hospital and final 60 minutes of Another World.