Ratings from the 80's

[BoldRestless]

So amazing to finally clear up this Iran-Contra mystery! I don't think he reads here frequently, but I know that @feuxdelamour was looking for this information for several years! And of course if @Brolden is still doing his ATWT full episode list, he needs to check out all of these 70s and 80s posts! 

 

Such a goldmine for all our soap historians ( @JAS0N47 is in the hall of fame!)

Edited July 19, 2023 by BoldRestless

[JAS0N47]

 

2/1/82-2/5/82

TPIR 1...7.2/30

TPIR 2...8.5/33

 

6/27/83-7/1/83:

TPIR 1...7.4/28

TPIR 2...10.4/37

 

2/4/85-2/8/85

TPIR 1...8.0/29

TPIR 2...10.2/37

[kalbir]

Thanks again @JAS0N47

[tybuki]

Appreciate the info @JAS0N47. One more for ya! Same show, week of 11/18-22/85.

[Contessa Donatella]

Never thought about it but of course they would because when they began there were many half hour shows. My mother watched ATWT, AW & DAYS so that's what I began watching & they were all half hour. She ended up giving up ATWT after Lin Bolen went to work. I wonder if ATWT lost a significant number of fans due to the network expansion. 

Edited July 20, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges
more info

[JAS0N47]

The half hour ratings for the soaps are in the front part of the book (along with the full demos for each half hour). They are the average of the two-week period, however, so I don't think there's a way to figure out the weekly half-hour averages. 

However, in the chart pages, they do have the quarterly hour ratings listed for each week. For instance, the week of 10/15/84-10/19/84, "Days" had the following quarterly-hour average ratings:

1-115: 5.7

115-130: 6.2

130-145: 6.5

145-2: 6.5

 

11/18/85-11/22/85:

Press Your Luck...3.7/15

 

Press (1030AM) only had 81 percent clearance, airing on 168 CBS affiliates that week.

 

The show it lead into, however, Price Is Right 1 (11AM) had 99 percent clearance, airing on 208 affiliates. So, 40 CBS affiliates chose not to air Press.

Edited July 20, 2023 by JAS0N47

[Contessa Donatella]

Thanks, Jason! I know that at the network level they take it down to the very minute. In an essay in "The Survival of Soap Opera: Transformations for a New Media Era" the example is given of network notes saying to stop doing whatever you're doing at 2:47 because they were losing significant audience. The writers had no idea what they were doing at 2:47. 

[kalbir]

Not to derail the thread, but as far as network daytime game shows not named The Price is Right go, they really start to lose clearance from Fall 1986 through the end of the decade. That overlaps with Oprah going national and changing the syndication game.

[JAS0N47]

Just saw this unique thing in the ratings, Had to do a little more digging in the newspaper archives to figure out why.

Any guesses as to what Guiding Light was preempted for the majority of the hour on 11/25/83??

[will81]

Only thing I could see was a College football game Alabama-Boston. Was it something different?

 

[JAS0N47]

Yes, but the ratings list a big gap, so I couldn't figure out why. I thought maybe it was a weather delay. The only other thing I could think is that they went to Local News due to a weather delay, but when I checked the newspapers, CBS experienced a power failure at the game, which caused a 43-minute blackout from 316-359PM. So, that's why there was no rating on CBS for those 43 minutes. 

So GL could be said to have been preempted that day by 17 minutes of NCAA Football and 43 minutes of a black screen!

[BoldRestless]

I think something like that happened when Y&R was preempted by Jimmy Carter's press conference on 3/2/78. There was dead air for 15 minutes before his speech and CBS was mad!

[JAS0N47]

 

CBS was the only network to cover the press conference.

 

The Nielsen book has this:

 

CBS: Carter Press Conference 12-1243PM (sustained, no rating)

CBS: Carter Analysis 1243-1PM, (6.7 rating/27 share)

[watson71]

November 25, 1983 was the Friday after Thanksgiving, so a football preemption was most likely what happened.

[tybuki]

I knew Press and (to a certain extent) Pyramid struggled with clearances for their runs. And this all but confirms the drop off PYL experienced in the 2nd half of 1985. Thanks again @JAS0N47

Edited July 20, 2023 by tybuki