Highest Rated Episodes/Weeks of Each Show?

[soapfan770]

 

 

It was given attention because it was first time GL beat GH in the ratings in five years. Going back based on what I have seen, GL was considered #3 for the month of August and was #2 for the for the month of September. The height of the Barbados story along with the intros of India & Roxie is what I’ve seen usually cited for GL going to #1.

Edited May 26, 2020 by soapfan770

[robbwolff]

Actually Entertainment Tonight reported about Guiding Light’s ratings in July 1984. ET gave the impression GL was number one overall. That said, ET often had inaccurate reporting. In spring 1982, ET announced NBC was cancelling Texas only to retract the story the next day.

And Beth and Lujack. They were featured in the July 1984 ET report.

[Paul Raven]

From Jason 47. Days ratings around the time of Steve and Kayla's wedding.

7/25/88........1.......8.1........26
8/8/88..........2.......8.0........25
8/15/88........2.......7.5........24
8/22/88........2*......7.4........24
9/5/88..........5.......6.6........24

[BetterForgotten]

Another claim I believe that was later debunked was OLTL going to #1 the week Vicki went to heaven.

Edited May 26, 2020 by BetterForgotten

[soapfave06]

Was there a rumor or did OLTL go #1 for the Faux Bo story as well?

[soapfan770]

 

LOL I had wondered about that. One thing I left out was Hilary Bauer’s death, but that came after the ET report had already aired. 

Still nice to know GL did hit #1 in 1979, something I’ve never had seen before or mentioned.
 

Anything about Victor & Nikki getting 20+ million viewers for their 1984 wedding on Y&R?

[GLATWT88]

Do you know what week her heaven storyline happened? It looks like OLTL did in fact go to number 1 (tie) for one week in 1987 that I was able to find...it may be a week that isn't available, tho. I will say that OLTL did have several weeks at number 3 and a few at number 2 throughout 1987. 

 

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Edited May 26, 2020 by GLATWT88

[soapfan770]

 

Thanks for sharing that! I remember reading before that AMC and OLTL both hit #1 in 1987 for various reasons (A rape

story involving at AMC if I recall right)

[GLATWT88]

Let me share the website. I honestly just stumbled upon it today and it's a great resource. I just didn't know where to post it so I could share with everyone. I will say for those of you who posted questions about OLTL, it is very possible that OLTL may have had days where it was the number 1 soap,because it did have many weeks where it ranked 2nd or 3rd in 1987 and 1988. Now, how anyone would've been able to get ahold of that exact information for daily numbers in the late 80s, I'm not completely sure -unless they worked for the networks or nielsen. The magazines I found usually just list the ratings for the week. 

 

Here's the website for those of you interested: 

https://daytimeroyaltyonline.com/vintage-voldemort-news-tidbits-t16990.html

Edited May 26, 2020 by GLATWT88

[soapfan770]

Thanks will definitely check that out I know some posters share a lot of the same info here at SON and DR both are great resources to read!

[GLATWT88]

It's definitely a nice reference, wish more was persevered and easily accessible for other magazines as well.

 

I wish we did have more conclusive information for the Steve and Betsy wedding. Overall, ATWT did well in 1983/84. The articles I read from 1983 and 1984 for ATWT confirm that the couple was definitely popular with viewers and that their relationship did help boost ATWT ratings. ATWT saw yearly increases the 2 years Meg was on. Also, the 1980s ratings pretty much confirm that even though GH was the most popular soap throughout the majority of the 1980s overall, it wasn't unlikely that a soap could dethrone it from the top spot for a week or more. So while I believe it may be possible that Steve and Betsy's wedding could have scored ATWT a number 1 for the week or day or even just the timeslot, I am finding it hard to believe it actually had 20 million viewers. I'm not saying it didn't, because I don't have proof otherwise, but considering all the articles from 1984 I've seen written up on the wedding, none of them mention this incredible feat. I haven't seen a mention of it from a reliable source from that time period or with any actual proof which makes me believe this misinformation started or eventually found it's way onto blogs, websites, and forums. Maybe someone heard that ATWT had a 20 share for the week and thought it meant 20 million. Maybe someday someone could find published ratings for that week. 

Edited May 26, 2020 by GLATWT88

[BetterForgotten]

I still think that misinformation was spread primarily from Schemering’s Encyclopedia, and everyone else just ran with it. I believe he calls it out and that was published over 30 years ago.

 

The ratings from the 80’s also makes it clear that Y&R’s rise to #1 wasn’t totally unexpected as it wasn’t unusual for the show to have stints at #1 before they took the position for good at the end of the decade.

[soapfave06]

I think those ratings are for Tina's murder trial Maria Roberts and aftermath. The Heaven story was in March or April. 

[Gray Bunny]

 

Thanks for posting! This, along with Jason47's info seems to show DAYS' highest rating with an 8.1.... Though not their highest Nielsen number (they got 9's in the 70's), but the overall total viewers may be significantly higher? 

 

What a continuing mystery, all these claims of high ratings and being No. 1 for so many soaps

[GLATWT88]

Well, that first part is somewhat true. A household rating is the percentage of tv homes that tuned into a particular program. The weight of a household point is adjusted according the number of tv households and these numbers have continued to grow, which means that the weight of a point has also continued to grow. Let me give you an example

 

Y&R scored a 7.0 rating in HH in 1982. Each household point in 1982 was equivalent to 729,000 homes. This would mean that on average 5.1 million TV homes were tuned into Y&R for that hour.

 

Let's say Y&R also scored a 7.0 HH rating in 1992. By 1992, a rating point was now equivalent to 921,000 households, which would mean that on average 6.4 million homes were tuned in to the episode.

 

Households don't equal total viewers as the number of people watching in each household varies. Although, higher household is a good indicator that more people are watching obviously. This is also a simplified explanation as Nielsen ratings are very antiquated in how they measure ratings and it's not like there is a measuring tool attached to all of our devices to truly measure how many people really watch anything.

 

But to answer your question an 8.1 HH rating in 1988 for Days would almost certainly equal more viewers than a 9 it scored in say 1978.