High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The children`s television program Sesame Street premiered in 1969, to high ratings, positive reviews, and some controversy, which have continued during its history. Even though the show aired on only 67% of American televisions, it earned a 3.3 Nielsen rating, or 1.9 million households. By its tenth anniversary in 1979, 9 million American children under the age of six were watching Sesame Street daily. Its ratings declined in the 1990s, due to societal changes. A survey conducted in 1993 found that by the age of three, 95% of all American children had watched it. By its fortieth anniversary in 2009, it was ranked the fourteenth most popular children`s show.