Highest Rated Episodes/Weeks of Each Show?

[will81]

I think they go by the 18-34 demo now, pretty sure HH/share or overall ratings are a thing of the past. 

[soapfan770]

I’ve always really wanted to know why they never followed any male demos for the soaps either lol. I remember SOD ran a story on what the AA demos looked like back in the late 90’s, of course Y&R was #1 but lily white P&G shoes were dead last lol.

[GLATWT88]

I remember reading an article years ago that actually said the entire CBS daytime lineup was in the top 10 for AA viewers, including TPIR, GL and ATWT. I'm not defending GL as far as diversity even though they were the first soap to prominently feature African American characters. In their final years, I believe the only diverse characters were a gay couple, a larger figured woman, and the AA Boudreau family. I'm sure YR probably helped those AA numbers as they were the best as far as representation of the four CBS soaps not that it's saying much. Daytime in general hasn't been the best for diverse representation on TV.

 

I feel like the ABC soaps did well with AA, but I would like to see actual numbers. I know plenty of friends' grandmas who watched OLTL...not sure if that was just a coincidence or if OLTL did appeal to AA audiences. 

[will81]

Same. I have only heard anecdotal stuff like EON was very popular with men, and AMC was too in the late 70's and early 80's. 

[Vizion]

 

How many people are on the show? Does the show tape for just 3 months? That's a lot less money than a soap that tapes year round (meaning you have to pay crew year round) and has a contract cast of 25+ people.

 

Gotta do a cost benefit analysis. Are the ratings and demos for soaps good enough to justify how much they cost to produce annually? 

[te.]

 

CBS goes by the 25-52 demo IIRC, at least in prime time. But in all honesty, there's so many sub-demos that come into play these days when selling a show to advertisers - I know they used to brag about how Good Wife did incredibly well in high-income households as an example.

[Gray Bunny]

Not sure if this falls under any relevancy other than comparing overall households versus black households, but this was the comparison chart SOD published in their Feb. 14th 1995 issue. The numbers reflect November of 1994: 

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[Pine Charles]

I’ve always been skeptical that that Meg Ryan wedding on ATWT attracted “20 million viewers“.

That couple didn’t even seem THAT popular (does anyone mention them today??).

ATWT wasn’t even in the top 5 rated soaps for the 1983-1984 season (the wedding apparently aired in May of ‘84), and a wedding of some semi-popular couple attracted 20 million viewers??

Wouldn’t that have boosted ATWT’s yearly rating MUCH higher??

It just doesn’t add up.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Pine Charles

[Paul Raven]

I'm inclined to agree.

CBS would have been shouting from the roof tops if ATWT achieved those numbers but in all my research, there has never been any mention of ATWT ratings for that week.

[Pine Charles]

Days Of Our White Lives

 

Right!!

 

I wonder who came up with that bs..??

Meg?? 
 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Pine Charles

[kalbir]

Surprised B&B ranked so high in African-American households. Carryover viewers from Y&R maybe?

[Faulkner]

That was my guess, as so many markets air them back to back. In STL, B&B aired at 12:30 (opposite the second half of AMC) and Y&R at 3/4 pm, so I never watched them together.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Faulkner

[Soapsuds]

• Steve and Betsy wedding was the second highest rated episode in soap opera history.  We know the highest one was Luke and Laura.
• Steve and Betsy wedding was on May 30, 1984 and did not count for the yearly rankings for 1983-1984 because the cut off period was at the end of April.  May sweeps has never counted for yearly ranking either in primetime or daytime.
•  

Edited May 24, 2020 by Soapsuds

[GLATWT88]

I have tried many times in the past to research this very question, which episodes were highly rated for each soap but unlike primetime those numbers aren't easily accessible at least not on the internet. You're also talking about 200+ episodes a year over decades for the ones I'm most curious about.

 

I always wondered what was the highest rated episode of GL. Even the highest rated episode of each of the earlier decades 50s, 60s and 70s. 

 

I have actually heard many times that the Steve and Betsy episode of ATWT was highly rated even on a TV special, but I have never seen actual numbers. 

[Pine Charles]

Really?? May Sweeps never counted??

 

I was always told that a yearly ratings period for daytime soaps is September - September, so the 1983-1984 rankings would be for September 1983 - September 1984.

 

Anyway, just because someone wrote that doesn’t make it factual.

It was reported for years that GL rated #1 for a few week’s stretch in the summer of ‘84, but someone just debunked that after doing extensive research (GL was, in actuality, #1 in its time-slot for that period, not #1 overall).

 

Anyway, I still find it hard to believe that a semi-popular soap (at that point in time) attracted 20 million viewers for a wedding.

Steve & Betsy were no Luke & Laura or Jenny & Greg.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Pine Charles