Ratings From the 90's

[Paul Raven]

Let's post and discuss ratings from that era here.

 

To set the scene an article from Oct 96

 

NBC daytime- empowered by ratings growth in households and key female demographics - is looking to 1997 as the year in which it begins to enjoy the same success as its prime time counterpart. Consistently shadowed by the monolith that is CBS's The Young and the Restless and The Price Is Right and by the strength of ABC powerhouses All My Children and Genera! Hospital, NBC plans to drop the viewer -challenged magazine show Real Life in January to make way for Aaron Spelling's Sunset Beach. Another soap, network executives say, may be in the works by next fall for a potential launch in spring 1998.

Promising a coastal drama different from NBC's former Santa Barbara, Sunset Beach will focus more on 20- something friends and less on the traditional family units that anchor soaps, says Susan Lee, senior vice president, NBC daytime. At least four actors have been cast, including Ashley Hamilton and Randy Spelling, the producer's son, who has already had acting stints on Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210. "I think there is more pressure on us [from prime time counterparts] because working here you certainly feel that you want to be performing as well. You want to be able to say 'I got an A on my report card too,' " says Lee. "We decided on a new soap because our feeling was it was a branding issue, particularly with so many channels where you can get a lot of different programing. What networks do that's unique is daytime dramas."

And it's something CBS seems to do best with its number -one The Young and the Restless, which finished last season with a 7.6 Nielsen rating /27 share, up 4% over the previous year. Coupled with the strength of Price Is Right and Guiding Light, CBS won for the eighth year in a row in households (5.3/20). ABC followed, with a 3.9/14, and NBC had a 3.2/12.

 

Yet the #3 ranking didn't tell the whole story for NBC, which enjoyed the largest growth in households, with a 17% jump over the previous season. Strides also were made in women 18 -49, up 20 %, and women 18- 34, up 22 %, Lee says. She attributes the growth to over- the -top Days of Our Lives stories of exorcism and stolen human eggs. Yet ABC still took the top prize last season for women 18 -49 (3.1), followed by CBS (3.0) and NBC (2.4). To boost its share of those viewers this year, ABC plans to expand its practice, started on All My Children last season, of incorporating recaps and teasers  to keep fans updated. "We're not in the household games, we're in demographies," says ABC's Pat Fili- Krushel, president, ABC daytime. "Women 18 -49 -that is our goal, and we have been number one since 1975." Whether Sunset Beach represents a threat to ABC and CBS and a boon to advertisers remains to be seen. ABC, for instance, already has its own investment in The City and worries more about the loss of talent from an already small writing pool than about an increase in competition. "Writers burn out. It's very intensive," she says. "We call it the Venus flytrap of storytelling. It would be great to give them a hiatus so they [could] regenerate. We're talking 52 weeks, or 260 episodes."

 

"Now is an excting for NBC to introduce a third soap," counters Michael Maloney, West Coast editor of Soap Opera Digest. "Days of Our Lives currently is number two in ratings, and Another World has had its demographics improve over the last year as well. Since soap fans tend to put one channel on and leave it there for a whole day, adding Sunset Beach to the lineup will help produce a strong soap block for NBC." Media buyer Bill Sellers of Western Media Inc. in Los Angeles warns that recent network attempts to add soap operas "have essentially failed or have been no better than the syndicated fare that's come across." In 1995 ABC's The City -a new version of the network's Loving, which had debuted in 1983 -was the last soap introduced to daytime. Earlier, NBC said farewell to three of its soaps: Santa Barbara, dropped in 1993 after eight years; Generations, which debuted in 1989 but was canceled less than two years later, and Search for Tomorrow, off in 1986 after four years on the network and 31 years on CBS. CBS's The Bold and The Beautiful, launched in 1987, ranks as one of the most successful new soaps since the launch of sister show The Young and the Restless 24 seasons ago. "The expansion doesn't have as much to do with distribution as [with] getting affiliates to go along.... It's been a struggle," Sellers says. "If they are going to expand, affiliates are going to have to give up time and inventory for syndicated stuff and work for both parties." NBC says its has clearance in at least 90% of the country and promises to be available for promotional support to stations over the next two years - roughly the same time period that networks give for a new soap to succeed. "History suggests it's a long haul to come up with a project that changes viewership patterns," Sellers says. "I'd bet against it, and I'm right probably 90 percent of the time."

Edited May 26, 2020 by Paul Raven

[Soapsuds]

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[Soapsuds]

Sept 1990

 

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[Soapsuds]

1991

 

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[Paul Raven]

No matter what the year, there is always a gap b/w #8 and the rest. Days or OLTL for example were in 8th place but moved up at various times and another show was bumped down. But AW never jumped to say 7th or 6th - always mired at 9th...

[soapfave06]

What year are the 4th of July ratings from? OLTL was doing terrible! Actually so was AMC. DAYS and ATWT werw doing really well though. What was going on during this time?

Edited May 28, 2020 by soapfave06

[Soapsuds]

It's from 1991. OLTL had a horrible 1991. GL wasn't having a great 91 either. 

 

ATWT had the Carolyn Crawford murder mystery and Holden/Lily wedding, Connor taking over Walsh Enterprise and Julie giving birth to Aaron, Holden son/one night stand and all of Oakdale finding out. 

 

Not sure what the others soaps storylines were.

[kalbir]

Y&R's big 1991 stories were Nikki's substance abuse, the baby switch, and David Kimble. I don't remember too much about B&B that year, except the Logans were pretty much all gone and replaced by the Spectra gang, Stephanie's stroke and homelessness, and Caroline's twin Karen was introduced. 1991 was a transition year for GL as there was a head writer change, big cast changes, and an EP change but it was still enjoyable; highlight was Alexandra/Roger at the country club in July.

Edited May 28, 2020 by kalbir

[soapfave06]

Thanks Soapsuds! I didn't even realize ATWT was hitting #2 in the 90s. Really shows all the squandered potential by the end of the decade and just how good the shows were at one point. 

[Soaplovers]

Marlena came back in August 1991..and the week she came back..Days hit #2

[Soapsuds]

September 1992

 

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[Soapsuds]

From 1992  This must have been the Sheila/Lauren crossover to B&B.

 

 

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[GLATWT88]

 

 

I believe those ratings are for 1993. A HH point for the September '92 to Aug./Sept. 93 season was equal to 931,000. The Sept. '91 - '92 season was 921,000. 

 

Edit: This is in fact 1991. My apologizes. A HH point for September 1990 - August 1991 and September 1992 - August 1993 were equal to 931,000 as you see at the bottom of that page. The HH point from September 1991 - August 1992 was equal to 921,000. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by GLATWT88