Ross Perot eventually won 18.9% of the popular vote in 1992, which was the strongest performance of a third party candidate since 1912. At one point in the whole campaign, Perot was even leading both Clinton and Bush in the polls!
Was he given a proportional amount of attention in the media, or did the media treat him exclusively like a spoiler, and thus not take him very seriously?
I lived through that election. It was the first election I followed as a kid. Ross Perot was taken seriously enough before he quit the race (and then rejoined). He was polling rather high and I recall people thinking he had a real shot. There was no internet and Perot bought a lot of TV time to explain his message. He had charisma and I think if he had stayed in the race, he might have won. Keep in mind that unlike Gary Johnson, he actually took part in the presidential debates.
There were rumours his family was threatened, I'm not sure what is true or false, but I remember being bummed that he dropped out.