A look back at clearance rates

[Jason47]

A LOOK BACK AT CLEARANCE RATES.

Someone mentioned "clearance rates" tonight on another board (the percentage of clearance each daytime network show has per all of their affiliates), so I remembered I had a few charts that listed them from a long time ago. Here's a look back at each show's clearance rate for several years. I had never studied these stats before, so they are quite interesting!

B&B slowly rises from 93 percent coverage in 1989 to 96 coverage in 1993, while Another World drops from 99 to 96 and Santa Barbara drops from 99 to 94. Also, this time frame is when NBC started to slowly give back its network time to local affiliates. They gave the 10-11AM time slot back to local affiliates between 1990 and 1992, and the 11-1130AM time slot in the fall of 1992.

CLEARANCE RATES FOR NETWORK AFFILIATES. SEPTEMBER 1989 & FEBRUARY 1990.
[LOCAL TIME, 10-11AM]
Home I (ABC, 11AM)...88...82
Home II (ABC, 1130AM)...94...89
Perfect Strangers (ABC, 12PM)...68...65
Loving (ABC, 1230PM)...88...SAME
All My Children (ABC, 1PM)...99...SAME
One Life to Live (ABC, 2PM)...99...SAME
General Hospital (ABC, 3PM)...99...SAME

Family Feud (CBS, 10AM)...84.....80
Wheel of Fortune (CBS, 1030AM)...78...SAME
Price Is Right I (CBS, 11AM)...98...SAME
Price Is Right II (CBS, 1130AM)...98...SAME
[LOCAL TIME, 12-1230PM]
Young and Restless (CBS, 1230PM)...99...SAME
Bold and Beautiful (CBS, 130PM)...93...95
As the World Turns (CBS, 2PM)...99...SAME
Guiding Light (CBS, 3PM)...99...SAME

Scrabble (NBC, 10AM)...81...75
Classic Concentration (NBC, 1030AM)...82...79
Golden Girls (NBC, 11AM)...97...95
Win, Lose or Draw (Sept)/227 (Feb.) (NBC, 1130AM)...92...90
[LOCAL TIME, 12-1230PM]
Generations (NBC, 1230PM)...98...99
Days of Our Lives (NBC, 1PM)...99...SAME
Another World (NBC, 2PM)...99...SAME
Santa Barbara (NBC, 3PM)...99...SAME

CLEARANCE RATES FOR NETWORK AFFILIATES...JULY 1992 & MARCH 1993 & SEPTEMBER 1993...

[LOCAL TIME, 10-11AM]
Home I (ABC, 11AM)...79...74 ...76
Home II (ABC, 1130AM)...82...85...84
Home III (July)/[LOCAL TIME, March] (ABC, 12PM)...51...N/A...N/A
Loving (ABC, 1230PM)...83...81...82
All My Children (ABC, 1PM)...99...SAME...SAME
One Life to Live (ABC, 2PM)...99...SAME...SAME
General Hospital (ABC, 3PM)...99...SAME...SAME

New Family Feud Challenge (CBS, 10AM)...66...57...51
New Family Feud Challenge (CBS, 1030AM)...79...68...61
Price Is Right I (CBS, 11AM)...99...97...99
Price Is Right II (CBS, 1130AM)...99...SAME...SAME
[LOCAL TIME, 12-1230PM]
Young and Restless (CBS, 1230PM)...99...SAME...SAME
Bold and Beautiful (CBS, 130PM)...97...95...96
As the World Turns (CBS, 2PM)...99...SAME...SAME
Guiding Light (CBS, 3PM)...99...SAME...SAME

[10-11AM GIVEN BACK TO LOCAL AFFILIATES SINCE 1990]
Dr. Dean (July)/[LOCAL TIME, March]/John & Leeza (Sept) (NBC, 11AM)...64...N/A...94
Classic Concentration (July-March)/John & Leeza (Sept..see above) (NBC, 1130AM)...55...74...N/A
[LOCAL TIME, 12-1230PM]
Closer Look (July)/Family Secrets (March)/Caesar's Challenge (Sept) (NBC, 1230PM)...83...78...84
Days of Our Lives (NBC, 1PM)...99...SAME...SAME
Another World (NBC, 2PM)...96...99...SAME
Santa Barbara (July, 3-4PM) (NBC, 3PM)...94...N/A...N/A
Scrabble (March) (NBC, 3-330PM)/Classic Concentration (Sept)...N/A...91...74
Scattergories (March)/[LOCAL TIME, Sept] NBC, 330-4PM)...N/A...88...N/A

 

[Jason47]

NIELSEN RANKINGS. WEEK OF FEBRUARY 26, 1990:

Here's a ranking of the Nielsen ratings household ratings/shares per half-hour time slot for each network show:

Week of 2/26/90-3/2/90:

Young & Restless (CBS, 1PM)...8.0/29
Young & Restless (CBS, 1230PM)...7.7/30
General Hospital (ABC, 330PM)...7.6/26
General Hospital (ABC, 3PM)...7.3/26
All My Children (ABC, 130PM)...6.6/23
Price Is Right II (CBS, 1130AM)...6.4/27
One Life to Live (ABC, 230PM)...6.4/24
One Life to Live (ABC, 2PM)...6.0/22
Bold & Beautiful (CBS, 130PM)...5.9/21
All My Children (ABC, 1PM)...5.8/20
As the World Turns (CBS, 2PM)...5.7/21
As the World Turns (CBS, 230PM)...5.6/21
Days of Our Lives (NBC, 130PM)...5.5/19
Guiding Light (CBS, 330PM)...5.4/18
Price Is Right I (CBS, 11AM)...5.3/23
Guiding Light (CBS, 3PM)...5.1/19
Days of Our Lives (NBC, 1PM)...5.0/17
Golden Girls (NBC, 11AM)...4.5/19
Another World (NBC, 2PM)...3.9/14
Another World (NBC, 230PM)...3.8/14
Santa Barbara (NBC, 330PM)...3.7/12
227 (NBC, 1130AM)...3.5/15
Santa Barbara (NBC, 3PM)...3.5/13
Family Feud (CBS, 10AM)...3.3/15
Loving (ABC, 1230PM)...3.3/12
Wheel of Fortune (CBS, 1030AM)...3.1/14
Classic Concentration (NBC, 1030AM)...2.9/13
Home II (ABC, 1130AM)...2.8/12
Generations (NBC, 1230PM)...2.7/10
Home I (ABC, 11AM)...2.5/11
Scrabble (NBC, 10AM)...2.3/10
Perfect Strangers (ABC, 12PM)...1.7/7

 

[redsquirrel]

Jason, I'm confused about what "clearance" means.

 

[Jason47]

It means what percentage of each network's affiliates aired a certain show. Scrabble only had 75 percent clearance rate, so that means 25 percent of the country didn't get to watch Scrabble. "Days" and most of the other soaps all had 99 percent clearance, so just maybe one or two affiliates were not airing them in those years.

 

[Noel]

Jason you are a master of statistics for soaps, especially Days.

 

[redsquirrel]

Thank you, Jason. Now I get it.

 

[JasonDíSpeech]

Very interesting! I was just talking about when Golden Girls was aired in NBC daytime pre-syndication. I had forgotten ABC did the same with Perfect Strangers. What a huge lineup for each network back in '89.

 

[Jason47]

Perfect Strangers was one of my favorite shows in the 1980's. Mark Linn-Baker and Bronson Pinchot did such a great job together!! Was always hoping they'd have a reunion show, but still no luck.

 

[Poirot]

Oh, agree, Cousin, let's do the Happy Dance. LOLOLOL

 

[JasonDíSpeech]

Me too! I taped them from syndication years ago, and have the season 1 & 2 DVDs. I keep waiting for more, but due to Larry & Balki's constant singing, the rights are expensive. :(

 

[Noel]

Yes, Jason, it is definitely impressive!