DISQUS

Polly · 1 year ago

Looks like Supernatural improved slighty over last week. Still disappointing ratings wise. Hopefully it will pick up next week the previews looked really good.

Grey's seemed flat and boring last night. I wonder if they lost viewers at the half-hour?

I DVR'd everything last night, maybe a million other viewers did as well?

Rob · 1 year ago

Wow, GA is down down down. It may rebound a little in the fall but i think next spring we'll see GA around 13 million

Daniel C. · 1 year ago

Robert

Let's be fair, fewer people were watching "network" television. I was watching Red Sox/Blue Jays on NESN in New England, then some NBA on TNT.

"Scrubs" used to be must-view TV for me and I have the DVD sets of seasons 1-5 and I'll still watch it if nothing better is on. This is one time I have to go along with NBC though and try to dump some older shows to bring in something that might last 4 or 5 years instead of 1 or 2.

Thursday night is the one shot NBC seems to have to keep the demo rating and dumping Scrubs and ER could give newer shows a fighting chance.

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

Daniel, fewer people were watching TV *period* actually if i read the hut/put #s right. I wonder if there was some Grand Theft Auto IV effect...

Polly, both Grey's and CSI picked up viewers in the second half hour. Sadly we won't see the full DVR effect for a while.

viewe · 1 year ago

I love how your blog is Anti ABC.

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

I just report the numbers. I *watched* LOST live. And I think picking up Scrubs is a good move. Yep, so anti-mouse!

Daniel C. · 1 year ago

Robert,

Well you could show those numbers then ;)

Less snarkily, how does Nielsen measure video games on HUT/PUT? Do the meters note if TVs are on? Do they distinguish TVs on to those tuned into a broadcast, cable or satellite signal?

Polly · 1 year ago

Robert - if they picked up viewers at the half-hour I guess we can go with the DST effect. I don't think the DVR effect will make up the difference in lost viewers, but we'll see. I think the strike may be the reason. People learned new ways of watching and discovered cable. Now if the actors strike, we may see the death of network tv as we know it.

dearme · 1 year ago

It's not the networks to be concerned about but the shows, if a show is high concept then no matter how people watch it, the sum total should be impressive.

Rob · 1 year ago

The DVR effect is overrated. GA will pick up around a million and a half i suppose. That makes it a 16.5 million show. Way back of where it was a year ago. Of course most of the shows have returned with worse results after the strike, but i don't know many with a 25% drop from last year. Creatively GA has nowhere to go, this show needs some buzz in the summer or else it will keep falling. The same goes for Ugly Betty. I mean a drop from over 11 million to under 8 million is huge.

And Lost has pretty low standards these days, but let's not forget a couple of years ago it was pulling 20 millions.

Mix all this with the fact that ABC has renwed plenty of low rated shows i think next year will be a trouble year for this station.

It's not an anti-ABC analysis, i'm just saying ABC need to be careful or else it may end up like NBC in a couple of years

tom · 1 year ago

polly... they discovered cable? that's funny. "hey honey... look... you know those extra channels we've been getting? the ones we pay 80 dollars for a month? well.. there's actually stuff on them. why don't we look."

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

Tom/Polly -- clearly over the last 25 years the attrition of network viewers bailing to cable is well documented. As I understand the numbers the total number of people with their tvs turned on and watching last night (broadcast or cable) was lower versus last week. I'm not posting those numbers for a variety of factors including that I doubt I'll see them regularly.

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

Rob, your DVR estimates for Grey's are low..it will pick up more than half a million extra in the LIVE+7 viewing. That said, it still won't get them back to last year's levels. Ooops...I see you said 1.5 million, not .5. My bad. I think your estimate is probably good.

tom · 1 year ago

lost doesn't have low standards. lost has 15-20 million viwers in the U.S.. most watch live but the rest on dvr same night, dvr same week, ipods, dvd's. half the people i know who watch lost, do it on a delayed basis. including myself. i have the whole season on the dvr. plus the lost numbers are the same compared to last season.

and when people talk of dvr viewers... it's not only within a week that someone watches things. what happens if 1 million people are watching shark or legal or csi after one week. they are invisible?

tom · 1 year ago

i'm not disputing people watch cable/satellite... it just sounds funny that someone discovered it. i think they knew it was there already.

don't forget the same congloms that own the nets own cable channels. so any migration just brings those viewers to the same people they are migrating from.

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

Tom, they are invisible in terms of being measured or counted.

tom · 1 year ago

you think the nets are ever going to reveal how many watched shows on their websites?

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

I think for now you'll see it via press releases. It's not as meaningful because it doesn't track demographics or average viewers. A lot of people stream shows, less people stream the whole thing, etc. I think we're still a ways a way where all the tv nets report internet viewing regularly and in a similar fashion. I hope I'm wrong.

dave · 1 year ago

Scrubs moving to ABC will be good for both networks. It opens up a spot for office for NBC. And ABC will be able to use scrubs to launch a new sitcom.

The only reason it looks like NBC wants to keep 30 rock is so its around long enough to make it a good syndication sell. Its number are mediocre. Earl preformed better in the weaker time slot.

The office is a great deal for NBC. It looks relatively cheap to make, it pulls in great demo numbers, it gets great buzz, TBS already runs reruns and its only season 4. A spin off is NBC's best idea in a long while.

NBC Thursday night is the best night on TV.

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

Dave, great points.

Rob · 1 year ago

Tom, there's no way Lost has 15-20 million viewers. It's impossible. The only important number you can add to the live data are the DVR numbers. Anything else is minimal. And with the DVR data it doesn't even get near 15 million. Lost has been sliding for the past couple of years and it's hard to revers the course now

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

Rob, I think with cumulative viewers by the time you add DVDs in,it's possible. But season 4 DVDs won't be out for a while, we can't track "legal" downloads let alone the more uh, questionable ones. We can't track web streaming or on-demand (LOST is available in HD via Comcast on-demand, it's how I typically watch, but it's not counted anywhere).

I think it's possible its reach could be that great, but not in any way it could be regularly counted and measured so it's purely in the realm of speculation.

Rob · 1 year ago

Yeah but we had DVD's, streaming and stuff like this also a couple of years ago when the show was geting 20 million in live data. The only big thing that has happened in these two years is the DVR penetration. So part of the loss is compensated by this but only part of the drop. I don't think that somenone can say that Lost it's as popular as it was 2 years ago

tom · 1 year ago

rob... you should worry about something else. lost is fine. it's got about 35 episodes left. then it'll be in the history books. everyone will be happy. the fans will be happy. the ones upset that people aren't upset at the ratings will be happy. the ones who hate the show will be happy. the ones that hate the fact that people like the show will be happy. it'll be a peaceful world of lost tranquility.

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

Tom, I didn't get the sense that Rob was a LOST hater. He's right, it's not as popular as it was 2 years ago, but name a "hit" show that is!?

I'm Lost lover, btw. Loved the episode from a week ago more than last night's, but looking forward to all the remaining episodes!

Rob · 1 year ago

Tom, the fact that Lost isn't getting canceled doesn't mean ABC doesn't need stronger numbers from Lost. We're just analyizing some numbers here

tom · 1 year ago

i wasn't implying he hated lost. i was refering to all the wacky internet people out there with a passion for or against it. it seems to go beyond just ratings. i find it amusing.

Angie · 1 year ago

I wonder what is going on with Supernatural. Normally I would say the ratings are the ratings, but we lost a million viewers between Jus In Bello (a season high) and Ghostfacers, and that's unusual. We have been around 3 million the whole season, with a pretty small deviation margin. But obviously we've lost a ton of viewers since before the strike, and I have a feeling they are not going to come back. Ever.

I wonder if being pulled from the schedule due to the strike did some damage - maybe more casual viewers don't realize it's back (the CW promoted Reaper's takeover of the timeslot, but not Supernatural's comeback)? Perhaps they thought JIB was the end of the season. I also think Ghostfacers hurt the ratings. It was a truly terrible episode, and to have that be the first one aired after the strike . . . not good.

Polly · 1 year ago

Tom - I guess I should have made my point more clearly. I meant they discovered things that they enjoyed the same as or more on cable. Not that they discovered that they had cable. I just think the strike changed up viewing patterns and I don't think they are going to go back to what they were pre-strike.

Polly · 1 year ago

I should have added earlier that the viewing patterns I'm talking about also include other avenues of viewing not just cable i.e. the internet, etc.

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

Angie/Polly -- there are stories floating around how scripted dramas have been hit hardest by the strike. Both Bill and I have linked to them but one one of the stories is at top of Bill's link list (under "Gorman Reading" on the right hand side).

Eric · 1 year ago

I've watched Scrubs for years, but I think NBC did the right thing and ABC won't get much benefit out of the move. The show is played out and just not as funny as it once was, and I think many of its fans recognize that. When it switches networks, it will naturally lose some viewers because it will be moving to a different night and different station, and will not be surrounded by other, more popular shows, such as The Office. And considering Scrubs was never that great at retaining the audience of hit shows it aired after--it didn't exactly become a smash hit when it aired after Friends--I can't see it helping to create a hit on ABC.

tom · 1 year ago

i know polly... i just found the image funny of someone discovering cable. i agree with your assessment. i watch less. used to watch daily show and other stuff every night. got out of the habit. i think some will come back in the fall. sort of fresh start.

Polly · 1 year ago

Robert - Thanks for mentioning the link, I had already read it. I want to thank both you and Bill for providing so many good links. There are quite a few I would have missed if not for your site. :)

Tom - thanks for clarifying and your snarky comment was funny! ;) (I really hope your right about viewers comming back in the fall.)

Nessa · 1 year ago

Angie,

I agree with you. I think the CW pulling the show off the air in place of Reaper confused people who dodn't know about the show even returning, and many people I've talked to didn't even know it was coming back on because they thought JiB was the season finale...I didn't mind GF, but probably not the best episode to air after coming back from a 2 month long break...thank goodness the show has already been renewed for a 4th season...

dave · 1 year ago

Thanks for the shout out in the main post.
I agree with Angie too, people may just not have known supernatural was back; I have a feeling a lot of supernatural viewers only watch the CW when supernatural is on, and missed any promotion of a new episode.

Xnova45 · 1 year ago

They already renewed supernatural for a 4th season
http://firefox.org/news/articles/1262/1/Superna...

Jon V · 1 year ago

It looks like the 8:00-8:30 slot averaged about 39 million viewers, but then at 9:00 suddenly there were 50 mil/view.

This might be in line with some of the sports that was going on elsewhere early.

An increase of 11 mil/view prob has also Daylight and quality of programming as the cause as well.

hey · 1 year ago

you see. everything on TV is down. meaning, idol is still doing amazing. please no more negative idol articles. and i wish everyone would leave poor paula alone.

Rachael · 1 year ago

These Supernatural numbers really have me worried. I hope there's no chance that the CW would pull their renewal of it.

Danielle · 1 year ago

Oh Supernatural you make me sad with these numbers.

Cookson · 1 year ago

With LOST, obviously it's disappointing to see the numbers lower, but this entire season has been screwed up. So basically, everything is "even", meaning almost every show has lost viewers. Nobody should be scared about LOST anyway. It's guaranteed to have another 2 seasons, with 17 episodes each.

Plus I mean, the MAIN ratings for nielsen is the 18-49 age group....which LOST is always high on.

Every thing's good.

tom · 1 year ago

Cookson... i like your attitude.

Linda · 1 year ago

Smallville picked up viewers the second half, because it was a great episode. It was like watching a movie event.

I work in the video industry, and I have alot of customers that do not watch tv shows when they are on anymore. They like watching all the episodes back-to-back on dvd without commericals. LOST is definitely one of those.

Doug · 1 year ago

When the media backlash occurred last year, Lost lost quite a few viewers. It's trending similar to last season now, which makes it a winner considering how much other series are down over last year. If you want to compare to two years ago, take a look at the numbers for most of the top series (CSI, GA, DH, AI, etc). All have lost significant amounts of viewers. Lost only had one streak where it consistently drew more than 20 million, and that was the first half of season 2 fresh off its emmy win. It's typical ratings during seasons 1-3.5 were between 16 and 18 million. So it's lost about a third of that audience, but so have most other top rated series.

I think Lost's decline is also attributable to ABC's constant tinkering with the schedule. What other network would move around a big hit series like ABC has with Lost? Any other network would treat it like a treasure and build a night around it, but on ABC, it just doesn't seem to fit the relationship drama mold, so they really don't know what to do with it. Now they just seem to shove it on the schedule where there's space to fill.

TONY · 1 year ago

30 rocks sucks whens it going to go to the dumps where it belongs

Andy · 1 year ago

I liked Supernatural last night.

The numbers are surprising. If they don't bump up to 3 mil for the final 2 I'm going to assume that we lost viewers due to: the long ass hiatus and the quality of season 3 in general, since it's been the weakest season of the 3. Lack of actual scares this season, which is what made Supernatural 'Supernatural'.

I really wish more people knew about the show. Everyone's missing out, and the more viewers we get, there's a higher probability of a bigger budget, which is obviously a good thing.

Danielle · 1 year ago

I dont know if I completely agree this has been the weakest season. I think we had a weak start but I think once the Christmas episode hit the show really hit their stride and turned out awesome episode after awesome episode.

I think the huge breaks, the lack of promotion, and the cult style of the show is what has dropped the ratings.

Zach10 · 1 year ago

It's sad to see The Office back down in the 7 Millions, when a couple of weeks ago it almost broke 10... :( Oh well... still the highest rated Comedy show on NBC right now... they would never cancel it ;P

Robert Seidman · 1 year ago

Zach a couple of week's ago was the ideal situation -- it was up against repeats on ABC and CBS. The last 2 weeks both Grey's and CSI were back and new. I'm sure the Office will pick many of the dropped viewers back up via DVR viewing.

Zach10 · 1 year ago

Yeah, I know, I'm just saying it was nice seeing it that high.

Rob R · 1 year ago

From this website----as an example. Lost's Feb 27 episode was the #1 DVR'd program, where it's same day overnight audience of 12.8 million increased to 15.0 million (rounded)when DVR + 7 day viewers were included. So for some shows, like "Lost", the DVR adjustment is not "overrated." In fact, it is frankly impossible to appreciate the total audeince for a show so many PREFER to put on DVR so they can watch it more closely. "Lost" is one of those shows, so you really can't evaluate it solely based on the overnights.

1 LOST ABC TOTAL DVR+7 14,998
11,020 3,978 36.1% 12,893 47.1%

Rob R · 1 year ago

From this website----as an example. Lost's Feb 28 episode was the #1 DVR'd program, where it's same day overnight audience of 12.8 million increased to 15.0 million (rounded)when DVR + 7 day viewers were included. So for some shows, like "Lost", the DVR adjustment is not "overrated." In fact, it is frankly impossible to appreciate the total audeince for a show so many PREFER to put on DVR so they can watch it more closely. "Lost" is one of those shows, so you really can't evaluate it solely based on the overnights.

1 LOST ABC 2/28/08 TOTAL DVR+7 14,998, an increase over same day of 11,020 by 3,978 (percentage increase: 36.1%)