Editing Sesame Street (section)

===Ratings===
When ''Sesame Street'' premiered on November 10, 1969, it aired on only 67.6% of American televisions, but it earned a 3.3 [[Nielsen ratings|Nielsen]] rating, which totaled 1.9 million households.<ref name="Seligsohn">Seligsohn, Leo. (February 9, 1970). "Backstage at Sesame Street". ''New York Newsday''. Quoted in Davis, p. 197.</ref> By the show's tenth anniversary in 1979, nine million American children under the age of 6 were watching ''Sesame Street'' daily. According to a 1993 survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, out of the show's 6.6 million viewers, 2.4 million kindergartners regularly watched it. 77% of preschoolers watched it once a week, and 86% of kindergartners and first- and second-grade students had watched it once a week before starting school. The show reached most young children in almost all demographic groups.<ref name="zill-117">{{cite book | last = Zill | first = Nicholas | title = "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street | publisher = Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers | year = 2001 | location = Mahweh, New Jersey | pages = [https://archive.org/details/gisforgrowingthi00shal/page/117 117–120] | isbn = 0-8058-3395-1 | chapter = Does ''Sesame Street'' Enhance School Readiness? Evidence from a National Survey of Children | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/gisforgrowingthi00shal/page/117 }}</ref>

The show's ratings significantly decreased in the early 1990s, due to changes in children's viewing habits and in the television marketplace. The producers responded by making large-scale structural changes to the show.<ref name="weiss">{{cite news | last = Weiss | first = Joanna | title = New Character Joins PBS | work = The Boston Globe | date = October 19, 2005 | url = http://www.azcentral.com/families/articles/1018pbscharacter1019.html | access-date = October 12, 2019}}</ref> By 2006, ''Sesame Street'' had become "the most widely viewed children's television show in the world," with 20 international independent versions and broadcasts in over 120 countries.<ref name="friedman">{{cite news|last=Friedman|first=Michael Jay|date=April 8, 2006|title=Sesame Street Educates and Entertains Internationally|work=America.gov|publisher=U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Information Programs|url=http://dhaka.usembassy.gov/uploads/images/l1XvaDkUC8Hy7OGZIc2Nbw/pre2apr06_06.pdf|url-status=dead|access-date=March 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815105719/http://dhaka.usembassy.gov/uploads/images/l1XvaDkUC8Hy7OGZIc2Nbw/pre2apr06_06.pdf|archive-date=August 15, 2007}}</ref> A 1996 survey found that 95% of all American preschoolers had watched the show by the time they were three years old.<ref name="growing">{{cite book | last = Truglio | first = Rosemarie T | author2 = Shalom M. Fisch | editor = Shalom M. Fisch | editor2 = Rosemarie T. Truglio | title = "G" is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street | url = https://archive.org/details/gisforgrowingthi00shal | url-access = registration | publisher = Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers | year = 2001 | location = Mahweh, New Jersey | page = xvi | isbn = 0-8058-3395-1 | chapter = Introduction }}</ref> In 2008, it was estimated that 77 million Americans had watched the series as children.<ref name="friedman"/> By the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, it was ranked the fifteenth-most-popular children's show on television, and by its 50th anniversary in 2019, the show had 100% brand awareness globally. In 2018, the show was the second-highest-rated program on PBS Kids.<ref>{{cite news | last = Guernsey | first = Lisa | title = How Sesame Street Changed the World | work = Newsweek | date = May 23, 2009 | url = http://www.newsweek.com/2009/05/22/sesame-street.html | access-date = October 12, 2019}}</ref><ref name="leaving"/> In 2021, however, the Sesame Street documentary "50 Years of Sunny Days," which was broadcast nationally on ABC, did not fare well in the ratings,<ref name=lowratings>{{cite news|url=https://www.thewrap.com/sesame-street-50-years-of-sunny-days-ratings-abc/|title=Ratings: 'Sesame Street' Documentary Does Not Bring Sunny Days to ABC|first=Tony|last=Magilo|publisher=The Wrap|date=April 27, 2021|access-date=April 28, 2021}}</ref> scoring only approximately 2.3 million viewers.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/showbuzzdailys-top-150-monday-cable-originals-network-finals-4-26-2021.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427201251/http://www.showbuzzdaily.com/articles/showbuzzdailys-top-150-monday-cable-originals-network-finals-4-26-2021.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 27, 2021|title=UPDATED:SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Monday Cable Originals and Network Finals|first=Mitch|last=Metcalf|publisher=Showbuzz Daily|date=April 27, 2021|access-date=April 28, 2021}}</ref>