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TOS Nielsen Ratings Season 1

mswood

mswood

Rear Admiral
Premium Member
I don't see a thread with the Nielsen Ratings for TOS. So if I missed it Mods please just kill this.

All data provided from Nielsen's Bi-Monthly Pocket Pieces. Scanned Copies are posted at Ryan's Ratings.

Ratings are based off of HouseHold numbers. There are 3 sets of data points.

First will be the # in millions of Households that watched (average for the hour), the next set is the HouseHold Rating (which is the percentage of Households with a TV that are tuned to that program), followed by the Share (which is the percentage of Households that are watching TV at that time that are tuned into that specific Program). Ratings data and Share data are normally listed as Rating/ Share.

There were at the time 54,900,000 House Holds per Nielsen.

09/08/66 - The Man Trap * (Original Rating was incorrect it is in fact 20.7)
11.360 million
20.7 (rating)/ 36.4 (share)

09/15/66 - Charlie X
10.100 million
18.4/ 29.9

09/22/66 - Where No Man Has Gone Before
10.380 million
18.9/ 32.0

09/29/66 - The Naked Time
10.050 million
18.3/ 30.3

10/06/66 - The Enemy Within
9.060 million
16.5/ 27.2

10/13/66 - Mudd's Women
9.830 million
17.9/ 29.9

10/20/66 - What Are Little Girls Made Of
9.390 million
17.1/ 28.1

10/27/66 - Miri
8.950 million
16.3/ 25.4

11/03/66 - Dagger of the Mind
9.940 million
18.1/ 28.6

11/10/66 - The Corbomite Maneuver
9.550 million
17.4/ 27.8

11/17/66 - The Menagerie Part I
9.500 million
17.3/ 27.6

11/24/66 - The Menagerie Part II
10.210 million
18.6/ 33.6

12/08/66 - The Conscience of the King
8.620 million
15.7/ 25.1

12/15/66 - Balance of Terror (the lowest Rated episode of the first season)
8.510 million
15.5/ 24.9

12/29/66 - Shore Leave
10.100 million
18.4/ 29.3

01/05/67 - The Galileo Seven
8.890 million
16.2/ 25.0

01/12/67 - The Squire of Gothos
10.820 million
19.7/ 29.4

01/19/67 - Arena
10.540 million
19.2/ 29.1

01/26/67 - Tomorrow is Yesterday
10.980 million
20.0/ 30.5

02/02/67 - Court-Martial
10.050 million
18.3/ 27.2

02/09/67 - The Return of the Archons
10.930 million
19.9/ 29.3

02/16/67 - Space Seed
9.940 million
18.1/ 27.1

02/23/67 - A Taste of Armageddon
10.980 million
20.0/ 29.8

03/03/67 - This Side of Paradise
10.100 million
18.4/ 28.3

03/09/67 - The Devil in the Dark
10.380 million
18.9/ 29.8

03/23/67 - Errand of Mercy
9.500 million
17.3/ 28.8

03/30/67 - The Alternative Factor
9.330 million
17.0/ 27.3

04/06067 - City on the Edge of Forever
9.390 million
17.1/ 27.3

04/13/67 - Operation -- Annihilate!
9.720 million
17.7/ 27.7

The report also has additional breakdown by half hour and quarter hour for the Rating, and by the half hour for the Share.

Ryan has been scanning these reports with the dream of publishing from the mid 50's through 2000. When the data for the next years are released I will add them if again this data hasn't been posted previously.
 
Last edited:
mswood said:
I don't see a thread with the Nielsen Ratings for TOS. So if I missed it Mods please just kill this.

All data provided from Nielsen's Bi-Monthly Pocket Pieces. Scanned Copies are posted at Ryan's Ratings.

Ratings are based off of HouseHold numbers. There are 3 sets of data points.

First will be the # in millions of Households that watched (average for the hour), the next set is the HouseHold Rating (which is the percentage of Households with a TV that are tuned to that program), followed by the Share (which is the percentage of Households that are watching TV at that time that are tuned into that specific Program). Ratings data and Share data are normally listed as Rating/ Share.

There were at the time 54,900,000 House Holds per Nielsen.

09/08/66 - The Man Trap
11.360 million
18.4 (rating)/ 36.4 (share)

09/15/66 - Charlie X
10.100 million
18.4/ 29.9

09/22/66 - Where No Man Has Gone Before
10.380 million
18.9/ 32.0

09/29/66 - The Naked Time
10.050 million
18.3/ 30.3

10/06/66 - The Enemy Within
9.060 million
16.5/ 27.2

10/13/66 - Mudd's Women
9.830 million
17.9/ 29.9

10/20/66 - What Are Little Girls Made Of
9.390 million
17.1/ 28.1

10/27/66 - Miri
8.950 million
16.3/ 25.4

11/03/66 - Dagger of the Mind
9.940 million
18.1/ 28.6

11/10/66 - The Corbomite Maneuver
9.550 million
17.4/ 27.8

11/17/66 - The Menagerie Part I
9.500 million
17.3/ 27.6

11/24/66 - The Menagerie Part II
10.210 million
18.6/ 33.6

12/08/66 - The Conscience of the King
8.620 million
15.7/ 25.1

12/15/66 - Balance of Terror (the lowest Rated episode of the first season)
8.510 million
15.5/ 24.9

12/29/66 - Shore Leave
10.100 million
18.4/ 29.3

01/05/67 - The Galileo Seven
8.890 million
16.2/ 25.0

01/12/67 - The Squire of Gothos
10.820 million
19.7/ 29.4

01/19/67 - Arena
10.540 million
19.2/ 29.1

01/26/67 - Tomorrow is Yesterday
10.980 million
20.0/ 30.5

02/02/67 - Court-Martial
10.050 million
18.3/ 27.2

02/09/67 - The Return of the Archons
10.930 million
19.9/ 29.3

02/16/67 - Space Seed
9.940 million
18.1/ 27.1

02/23/67 - A Taste of Armageddon
10.980 million
20.0/ 29.8

03/03/67 - This Side of Paradise
10.100 million
18.4/ 28.3

03/09/67 - The Devil in the Dark
10.380 million
18.9/ 29.8

03/23/67 - Errand of Mercy
9.500 million
17.3/ 28.8

03/30/67 - The Alternative Factor
9.330 million
17.0/ 27.3

04/06067 - City on the Edge of Forever
9.390 million
17.1/ 27.3

04/13/67 - Operation -- Annihilate!
9.720 million
17.7/ 27.7

The report also has additional breakdown by half hour and quarter hour for the Rating, and by the half hour for the Share.

Ryan has been scanning these reports with the dream of publishing from the mid 50's through 2000. When the data for the next years are released I will add them if again this data hasn't been posted previously.
Click to expand...
Thank you for posting this!
 
The only place I have ever heard showing Nielsen ratings for TOS was a book series about TOS, but there were a lot of complaints about the accuracy of so many things in the book and I never saw the data released by Nielsen to confirm.
 
mswood said:
12/15/66 - Balance of Terror (the lowest Rated episode of the first season)
8.510 million
15.5/ 24.9
Click to expand...

this is shocking to me. It’s one of the best episodes. I wonder why? Was it up against another show that week that got more hype?
 
Hype wise, who knows. Ratings wise for the night NBC Started a little lower than typical, and that could simply have carried forward.

About the only thing that had much change was a CBS film that aired at 9-11. TOS aired 830 - 930. But TOS didn't have a larger than normal drop in its half hours (there is normally a drop off in the half hour).

And of course the general audience might not have liked Conscience of the King that much and decided not to watch the next episode....
 
mswood said:
TOS's info doesn't include Nielsen Ratings. But thanks for posted this again. I never did save the link when I first saw it so very much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Yeah I checked if it has the Nielsen data and since it doesn't it can complement what you posted.
 
PCz911 said:
this is shocking to me. It’s one of the best episodes. I wonder why? Was it up against another show that week that got more hype?
Click to expand...
The previous episode was less than stellar, and probably didn't incline people to watch the next one. It also being the holidays, and other programing changes might have thrown people off.

Regardless, it being the best episode now doesn't mean it was so then.
 
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Yeah, there was no way to know that a particular episode was going to be great from the TV listings.
 
fireproof78 said:
The previous episode was less than stellar, and probably didn't incline people to watch the next one. It also being the holidays, and other programing changes might have thrown people off.

Regardless, it being the best episode now doesn't mean it was so then.
Click to expand...

Yeah in those days people relied on the previews from the following week, the experience they had the week before, what else was on and the time of year. Fans will watch every episode they can, but casual viewers need to be committed. That night, The Dating Game and My Three Sons...oof. I blame it on the Karidian's. Their killing spree went on one more week.
 
mswood said:
HouseHold Rating (which is the percentage of Households with a TV that are tuned to that program), followed by the Share (which is the percentage of Households that are watching TV at that time that are tuned into that specific Program).
Click to expand...

Not sure what I am missing, but these two sound like the same thing to me, because you can't be watching a specific program unless you have a TV and are tuned it. They are obviously different because the numbers are different. Can you clarify further?
 
Mres_was_framed! said:
Not sure what I am missing, but these two sound like the same thing to me, because you can't be watching a specific program unless you have a TV and are tuned it. They are obviously different because the numbers are different. Can you clarify further?
Click to expand...

I believe this is it:

1. Percentage of households with TV's watching a specific program. Some TV's are turned off.
2. Percentage of households with the TV on, watching a specific program. Only counting TV's that are on at the time.
 
Did they account for households with more than one TV? Like Mr. Green in the Monkees' song "Pleasant Valley Sunday," for instance. It wasn't as commonplace as nowadays, though. I remember as late as the 2000s when there was a rash of burglaries in my area, the local sheriff was quoted in the newspaper saying that a possible way of identifying "persons of interest" who may be involved in the theft ring would be if someone has multiple TVs in their house, like nobody can afford more than one TV. :lol:

Kor
 
PCz911 said:
this is shocking to me. It’s one of the best episodes. I wonder why? Was it up against another show that week that got more hype?
Click to expand...
This was its first Network airing. Viewers didn't know if it was going to be good or not. It was also a week before Christmas so maybe people were out doing other things.:shrug:
 
1001001 said:
I believe this is it:

1. Percentage of households with TV's watching a specific program. Some TV's are turned off.
2. Percentage of households with the TV on, watching a specific program. Only counting TV's that are on at the time.
Click to expand...
Correct!

Rating is the percentage of households that own a TV, that watched a specific program. So that sample includes every Household that has a tv even if they aren't using it.

Share is the percentage of homes that are currently watching their tv and are watching that specific program.


Kor

And at this point they only counted Households. So having multiple tvs wouldn't impact the data. But it was expensive at the time. So having multiple tvs was fairly rare, become more common during the 70's and of course continued to increase over the decades.
 
Last edited:
mswood said:
Correct!

Rating is the percentage of households that own a TV, that watched a specific program. So that sample includes every Household that has a tv even if they aren't using it.

Share is the percentage of homes that are currently watching their tv and are watching that specific program.


Kor

And at this point they only counted Households. So having multiple tvs wouldn't impact the data. But it was expensive at the time. So having multiple tvs was fairly rare, become more common during the 70's and of course continued to increase over the decades.
Click to expand...
As someone who grew up in the sixties, it was actually not that common to have two TVs. Especially once color TV became available. People bought a new color TV but then put the black and white TV in another room, or if you were a kid and lucky like me; they allowed you to put the old black and white TV in your bedroom.
 
Yep. We had the color TV in the LR in the 70s and a little portable b&w in my brother's* bedroom.

*not mine even though I was the eldest living at home because I had to share my room with a much younger sister. My brother and I had the same bedtime.
 
Our only B&W TV (probably from the 50's) was always on the blink and when it was working it was terrible. We got a new color TV around 1967-ish, and the old piece of junk went into the attic. When we moved ~3 years later, us kids discovered the old hulk and set it up in our dormer joint sleeper area of our new house. It continued to barely work for a couple of years; you had to bang on the side of it to unscrabble the picture. Then one Christmas (~1975), our parents got us each our own 12" B&W TV's!
 
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