Ratings from the 80's

[JellicleCat]

 

These must be from late December 1986, since Search for Tomorrow is still on and that show went off the air on December 26, 1986.

[Gray Bunny]

 

Interesting to see how horrible Ryan's Hope was doing 2+ years before its cancellation. Nice to see DAYS up there during their Supercouple era. Surprised to see All My Children at No. 6.  Santa Barbara's 4.8 is actually a respectable number, even for then. 

[JellicleCat]

Also interesting to see Capitol doing relatively well, and yet knowing that when these ratings were published the show had already been cancelled and would soon be replaced by B&B.

[Soapsuds]

That's because it was up against As The World Turns at the time. Later that year ATWT was moved to 2pm and The Bold & The Beautiful took its spot and ALL My Children ratings rose after that. It took B&B a while before its ratings increased passed the 5.5 to 5.6 mark. 

 

I believe it was also up against Days which was doing well during that period.

Edited July 25, 2018 by Soapsuds

[~bl~]

Didn't they move Ryan's Hope to noon once Loving came to be, and local news pulled it from certain parts of the US? I always wondered how that influenced their drop...

[Gray Bunny]

 

That was my understanding. Once they switched Ryan's Hope & Loving, it marked the beginning of the end for RH. 

[Paul Raven]

Week of Feb 26 1984

1. GH 10.0/30

2. Y&R 9.7/33

3. AMC 9.2/28

4. GL 9.0/27

5. ATWT 8.6/27

6. OLTL 8.0/26

7. DOOL 7.5/23

8. CAP 6.8/23

9. AW 5.5/18

10. RH 5.1/17

11. LOV 4.2/16

12. SFT 3.3/12

13. EON 3.3/10

Edited August 14, 2018 by Paul Raven

[Pine Charles]

Where’s OLTL??

[Paul Raven]

Sorry

OLTL now included!

[tybuki]

Do you have access to all of daytime, or just the soaps? I know soap ratings are much easier to find than game show ratings...

[Paul Raven]

Yes, game show ratings are harder to come by but keep an eye out in this thread as I will include any I come across.

The ratings of the 70's thread does include some game shows.

[Paul Raven]

Variety July 86

Networks running neck and neck and shoulder in daytime

As competition heats up; ABC. CBS and NBC restructure schedules to gain advantage in ratings, demographics

For the first time in years, daytime programing on the three commercial television networks is a three -way contest. At the end of the second quarter (ended June 29), ABC and CBS were in a dead heat for first in household delivery, according to A.C. Nielsen, each with an average 6. I rating and a 22 share. NBC was a competitive second with a 5.2/19. Compared to a year ago, NBC showed the greatest growth, 8 %, while ABC was up about 3% and CBS was flat. In key women demographics, ABC has maintained a lead over both CBS and NBC, but third -place NBC made some inroads against second -place CBS. In the women 18 -49 demo for all but two weeks of the second quarter, ABC averaged a 5.9 rating. up 5% from a year earlier. CBS was off 5c/ in the same category, averaging a 3.6, enabling NBC to tie it in that demo, for a gain of 3%. In women 25 -54, ABC was up 1664 during the same period, averaging a 5.8. CBS held onto second place, climbing 8% to an average 4.0, while NBC was up 3% to an average 3.5. For women, 18 -34, ABC was off 2% to a 6.4, while NBC was flat with a CBSs As the World Turns Broadcasting Jul 14 1986 31 3.9 and CBS was off 16% to a 3.2.

 

All three networks will make programing moves in the months ahead in efforts to strengthen their daytime lineups. CBS will introduce a new half -hour soap opera in the first quarter of 1987. lt's being created by William Bell and his wife,WBBM -TV Chicago newswoman Lee Phillip, and will be produced by their company, Bell -Phillip Television Productions. Bell created CBS's Young and the Restless which went on the air in 1973 as a half -hour show and was expanded to an hour seven years later. Restless is now the second -ranked daytime program; it averaged an 8.4/31 in the second quarter, second only to ABC's General Hospital, which scored a 9.3/30. The CBS daytime programing vice president, Michael Brockman, said there has been no decision on whether the new soap will replace one in the network's afternoon serial block, or whether that block will be expanded by a half -hour. That decision will be made early in the fall, he said. The most vulnerable show in CBS's four program serial block is Capitol (2:30 -3 p.m.), which is losing ground to both fifth- ranked One Life to Live on ABC and Ilth ranked Another World on NBC. Capitol, which has been on the air for five years (a relatively short time for a serial), was ranked 13th in the second quarter with a 4.9 rating, down from a 5.2 a year earlier. "We are looking very carefully at Capitol," Brockman said. We are hoping it can show strength and the capacity to stay on the schedule." Of particular concern, he said, was Capitol's failure to take advantage of its growing lead -in audience from As the World Turns. That program, airing from 1:30 to 2:30 was the seventh -ranked program in daytime in the second quarter, up 3% to a 6.7/23. Brockman declined to provide details about the new serial. All that creator Bell would say last week was that the storylines will initially feature two familiies. Most serials revolve around one or more families. Bell said he was still a couple weeks away from hiring a producer but that he would proceed shortly with contract negotations with Los Angeles based Bill Glenn, whom Bell hopes to hire as head director. After those two slots are filled, the remaining staff and cast will be hired. According to Brockman, his main concern with the daytime schedule (he's also in charge of late -night and children's programing) is strengthening CBS's afternoon serial block, and the Bell project is part of that effort. Strengthening the game shows, he said, is the second priority. One move he made toward that end at the beginning of this year was canceling the game show, Body Language at 4 p.m., switching the faltering Press Your Luck to that time period and adding the New Card Sharks at 10:30 a.m. So far the results have been negligible, but Brockman says he will wait a while before making a judgment. As for Sharks, which averaged a 4.1/18 in the second quarter, Brockman said he'd like to see some improvement by the fourth quarter. And if the network can improve the station clearance rate above the current 83 % -84 %, he said the ratings will improve. The 4-4:30 p.m. slot poses a special problem. The CBS affiliate body is split just about evenly on whether it wants the network to program that time period or not. As a result, CBS's clearance level at 4 p.m. is in the 50%- range, making it difficult for programs to survive for very long. Press Your Luck, for example, was ranked 25th of 26 daytime programs in the second quarter with an average 2.3/10. Brockman argued that success is "not dependent" on a solution to that problem. But he also said the network is not willing to cede the half hour to the affiliates just yet. Brockman acknowledged that he was "looking to see if we can get [a show for the time period] that is more attractive" than Press Your Luck.

 

At ABC, the daytime vice president, Jozie Emmerich, is taking steps to beef up 11 a.m. -noon, which has been plagued with low ratings and poor clearances. She con firmed last week that the network, pleased with the results of a two -week trial run of the new Fame, Fortune & Romance, (11 -11:30 a.m.), has committed to 65 episodes (13 weeks) of the program. It will debut on Sept. 8, with repeats of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous continuing in the slot until then. Fame, Fortune & Romance is being produced by the TeleRep unit, Television Program Enterprises (concept by Al Masini, who also created Lifestyles), will look similar to Lifestyles and will feature the same host, Robin Leach. The difference, Emmerich, is that Lifestyles sticks pretty much to "possession and travel" themes, while Fame will also explore personal relationships. In its two week run last month, Fame was averaging a little more than a 3 rating, said Emmerich. In the second quarter, Lifestyles averaged a 2.4, which was an improvement over the 1.7 that Hot Streak had been averaging in that slot in the first quarter. ABC earlier announced that a new game show would debut at 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 18. Double Talk will replace New Love American Style, which was third from the bottom in the second quarter with a 2.3/10. Double Talk is a word game from Bob Stewart Productions, creator of $25,000 Pyramid on CBS. Emmerich reported that other game show pilots being considered along with Double Talk will be kept in reserve as possible replacement shows. They include Comedy Club, from Lin Bolen, Bamboozle from Chuck Barris and Catch Phrase from Marty Pasetta. Other game shows in "early development" said Emmerich, are A Question of Scruples from Columbia, based on the board game, and Funny Business from Group W Productions. Despite the changes in the morning lineup, Emmerich said most of the effort in daytime has been devoted to "keeping our serials strong." That seems to be paying off for the network's three hour long soaps, General Hospital, All My Children and One Life to Live, all of which were in the top five for the second quarter. But the network has one half -hour soap, Ryan's Hope, that placed in the bottom five. Part of Ryan's problem is poor clearances (usually in the low 80% range), since many stations air a noon -to I2:30 p.m.newscast that is more profitable. Emmerich told affiliates at their annual gathering in May that "we really believe in the future of [Ryan's]. Disappointing ratings are no deterrent to our commitment." Last week she stressed that for the time being, the entire five- program daytime serial block (the fifth show is the half -hour Loving, which airs after Ryan's at 12:30) was "inviolate." In the coming months, she said, an effort will be made on all the soaps to get "back to basics," and away from some of the "wild and woolly" storylines that have unfolded lately. "We really want to get back to the heart and core," she said, which means focusing on "love, romance and hope." In addition, she said, all the serials will bring back some characters that were popular but left.

 

At NBC, the network's daytime ratings for the second quarter were the best in seven years. "Three years ago," said NBC vice president of programing, Brian Frons., "we were in fourth or fifth place," referring to when NBC was three rating points or more behind its two competitors. Now less than one rating point separates the three networks. But NBC has problems in daytime, including its loss of the rights to repeats of Family Ties which have been getting its schedule off to a fast start at 10 a.m. Ties goes into syndication in January and will leave NBC's daytime schedule then. In the second quarter, the program was tied in its time period with CBS's $25,000 Pyramid, with a 4.5/19. (The 10 -11 a.m. period is programed by ABC affiliates.) Frons said he is still considering what to do once Ties is gone. Among his choices are several game show pilots he revealed to the affiliates at their meeting last month (BROADCASTING, June 16), along with three others in earlier stages of development. But Frons also said he was exploring the use of another hit comedy from the prime time lineup as a shortterm solution for 10 a.m. But that alternative, he noted, means that "sooner or later you have to replace it" when that show goes to syndication. If he can come up with a hit game show, said Frons, "we could be set for 10 years." NBC's serial block is in its best competitive position in years. Santa Barbara, only two years old and competing aginst two top - 10 programs from 3 to 4 p.m., General Hospital and Guiding Light, grew almost 20% in rating and 16% in share in the second quarter. Days of Our Lives, (I -2 p.m.) is making a serious run at ABC's All My Children for first place in the time period, having beaten or tied its rival for the last five weeks. A real question mark among NBC's serials is Search for Tomorrow, the oldest soap on the air which celebrates its 35th anniversary later this year. Compared to a year ago. Search is off both in rating and share and is third in its time period (12:30-1 p.m.). Frons admits the program's situation is "dicey." But, he said, Search has rebounded from an 8 share last December when a new executive producer, David Lawrence, came on board, almost back to where it was a year ago-a 12 share. One of its problems is a clearance rate in the low 70% range. But Frons says he won't consider canceling the program unless "it dives to a 7 or 8 share and stays there." But the key to how things take shape in daytime in the coming months, suggested Frons, is the 2 -4 p.m. time period. That's where the biggest HUT (homes using television) levels in daytime appear. ABC dominates that period now, with General Hospital, which was up almost 7% in rating in the second quarter, and One Life to Live, which was up almost 12 %. The gains of NBC's Another World and Santa Barbara appeared to come at the expense of CBS's Capitol and Guiding Light. Another World (2 -3 p.m.) was up a tenth of a rating point, while Capitol (2:30 -3) was off three -tenths of a point. Santa Barbara was up almost 20%, while Guiding Light was off 9% in the same 3 -4 time period. Sustaining the momentum, said Frons, is something NBC must do to remain competitive and close the gap further. "We can't stop. We must keep growing." What he comes up with to replace the popular Ties at the top of the schedule next January may be an important factor in NBC's future momentum

Edited August 28, 2018 by Paul Raven

[Paul Raven]

delete

Edited September 5, 2018 by Paul Raven

[Paul Raven]

From daytime TV Jan 82, so probably Oct/Nov 81

 

Top 10 serials

1. GH 11.7/41

2. OLTL 9.2/35

3. AMC 8.5/32

4. GL 7.1/25

5.Y&R 7.0/31

6. RH 6.3/26

7. SFT 6.0/23

8. ATWT 5.9/22

9. EON 5.7/19

10. DOOL 4.9/19

 

Top 5 gameshows

1. Family Feud 5.9/26

2. TPIR 4.7/26

3. Wheel of Fortune 4.3/23

4. Password Plus 3.7/19

5. Blockbusters 3.2/18

[Paul Raven]

Broadcasting October 1989

 

CBS remains the consistent number -one ranked network in daytime. The network is paced by The Young and the Restless, usually the highest rated show, and usually places four other shows in the top 10: As the World Turns, from 2 -3 p.m.; The Bold and the Beautiful, from 1:30 -2 p.m.; The Price is Right, from 11 to noon, and Guiding Light, from 3-4 p.m. ABC, which is ranked second during the day, is usually the strongest network in terms of demos, based on the strength of three of their soaps, General Hospital, All My Children and One Life to Live, which usually come in as the second, third and fourth -rated shows of the day, respectively. NBC, which has consistently been in third place during the day, made a bold move earlier in the year when it introduced Generations, the first soap opera to feature a predominantly black cast. Going up against Young and the Restless at 12:30 p.m., the six month old serial is the lowest rated soap. "Right now, the show [Generations] is performing up to our expectation, which is about a nine share," said Jackie Smith, vice president, daytime programs, ' NBC Entertainment. "It will take a while to bring it up to the teens. According to research and focus groups, some characters are becoming more favorable and the show itself is beginning to be perceived as a very likeable show," she said.

 

According to Lucy Johnson, vice president, daytime programs, CBS, daytime schedules may be the toughest to try to adjust. "People build their lives around their viewing patterns, so you try not to change your schedule. Usually the most successful schedules are those that remain constant. That's why you try to fix and develop a show as it goes along, because it can take an audience five years to sample and accept a new serial," she said. In addition to the afternoon, where CBS scores well with The Young and the Restless, the network also pulls in strong numbers with its morning schedule, which since July has included Wheel of Fortune, picked up from NBC. "Shows in the early morning are easier to change because people are busier at that time of the day as opposed to the afternoon," said Johnson. "Even so, you still don't like to make a lot of changes. That's why the Wheel of Fortune move was so drastic. Wheel is starting to show some growth," she said. The 11-to -noon time period is dominated by CBS's The Price is Right. "We've been blessed with The Price is Right, which is the only hour -long game show on television," said Johnson. "During the summer, the show goes into reruns and the ratings don't change." At 11- 11:30, the show dominates NBC's Golden Girls and the first half -hour of ABC's Home. From 11:30 to noon, the show is number one against 227 on NBC and the second half -hour of Home. For NBC, further change may be forthcoming. Smith says while there are no immediate plans to pull Golden Girls or 227, "ultimately, we're using them to warm up the time periods for new concepts."

Some of those new concepts include a serial which "will focus on a lighter side. There really hasn't been a soap that presented a lighter point of view," she said. The half -hour project will be co- produced by NBC Productions. In addition, Smith said a project to be hosted by Night Court co- star Marsha Warfield is in the works. Smith said the Warfield project will be ready sometime in 1990, with the serial slated for 1991. Although NBC has cut back on the number of game shows on its daytime schedule, Smith said some game show concepts are also in the works. "We're undertaking some new and classic game shows, including one that needs to be produced live," she said. Smith emphasized that the game concepts were in the experimental stage. In the afternoon, where no further changes are expected, CBS wins at 12:30 -1:30 p.m. with The Young and the Restless, but ABC takes over from there until 4 p.m., with All My Children at 1 -2 p.m.,. One Life to Live at 2 -3 p.m., and General Hospital at 3 -4 p.m. ABC attracts the younger demos with their soaps, while CBS draws a much older audience, especially later in the afternoon, with As the World Turns (2 -3 p.m.) and Guiding Light (3-4 p.m.). The two serials, which have been on the air for 33 and 36 years, respectively, "appeal to a slightly older and conservative audience without ignoring current issues," said Johnson.

 

For NBC, its highest performing soap is the long -running Days of Our Lives, which has been on the air for 24 years. Airing from I2 p.m., the show ranks third in household numbers for the time slot, but comes in second among women 18-49, and women 25 -54. Although daytime television has traditionally been the domain of women, and primarily still is, Johnson says the landscape is changing. "Research shows there are more men and young people watching and it's affecting sales patterns, resulting in different advertisers coming into daytime," she said. As evidence of this change in daytime demographics, an NBC study conducted earlier in the year showed daytime viewing among college students to be much higher than was previously thought. The study showed that in a typical week, network daytime serials were watched by 47% of all college students, 29% male and 62% female. "I think daytime is healthy, not that there aren't problems," said Johnson. "But as a form, it's healthy. It's a good advertising vehicle because the audience is guaranteed."