As we get closer to the mid-season finale of ‘The Good Doctor,’ the numbers are starting to set down a bit. This past week, the show averaged a 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demo with a total viewership of 9.5 million. With the same 18-49 average and less total viewers, ‘The Good Doctor’ is averaging a 1.95 rating in L+SD, particularly thanks to its initial weeks, when it reached a 2.4 rating high.

Monday Night Ratings: 10 p.m. slot

Although the numbers have steadily gone down, this is not bad news for ABC. In L+SD, the show is only behind old (and successful) shows like ‘This is Us,’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ but it is one of the best performers in the L+7 measurement. In today’s world, delayed viewing has become increasingly important, and advertisers are aware of L+7 success of ‘The Good Doctor.’

ABC has not officially announced the second season renewal for ‘The Good Doctor,’ but with these numbers, it is very likely that the announcement will be made anytime soon. Presenting itself as an alternative to the harsh-military shows that were predominant this season (in consonance with our political reality), ‘The Good Doctor’ successfully captivated the heart of its fans.

‘The Good Doctor’ 18-49 Ratings & Total Viewers

By: Alex E. Álvarez

This past Monday, ‘The Good Doctor’ averaged a 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demo with a total viewership of 9.97 million. Even with a slight decrease, the show still beat both of its competitors, ‘The Brave’ and ‘Scorpion,’ by twice their rating, both of 0.9 in the 18-49 demo.

Ratings: Monday Night 10 p.m.

‘The Good Doctor’ has incredibly outdone its predecessors in the Monday night 10 pm slot. The first one, ‘Conviction,’ premiered during the Fall 2016 season, and only averaged a 0.65 rating in the 18-49 demo with a total of 3.6 million viewers. Its highest performance was during its premiere when it got a 0.92 rating, literally half the lowest score of ‘The Good Doctor.’

‘Conviction’ Ratings: Season 1

During the last spring, ABC moved ‘Quantico’ from Sunday to Monday night at 10 pm. The show had an average 0.67 rating in the 18-49 demo and 2.8 million viewers during its second season, and was renewed for a third season with no confirmed return date. The show did not improve in the Monday night slot, and its rating kept decreasing with a finale of 0.59 rating.

‘Quantico’ Ratings: Season 2

Against all odds, ‘The Good Doctor’ has solidified ABC’s Monday nights with record-breaking numbers and great prospects.

By: Alex E. Álvarez

After airing for six episodes, ‘The Good Doctor’ just announced a new recurring role for the current season. ‘Witches of East End,’ ‘Rosewood,’ and ‘Secrets & Lies’ alum, Eric Winter, will be joining the show as Dr. Matt Coyle, a young surgeon, who is charming, but brings some controversy to the hospital. This move is another young addition to the cast, and will hopefully bring in some of his previous fans. Only behind ‘This is Us,’ ‘The Good Doctor’ has garnered the highest 18-49 viewership L+7 with a 4.1 rating in Week 4 and a 3.8 rating in Week 5, showing clear success in the money demo.

Eric Winter

‘The Good Doctor’ did not air this week, and that helped to show its clear success. Both, NBC’s ‘The Brave’ (1.0 rating) and CBS’s ‘Scorpion’ (0.8 rating) averaged their usual ratings, and the ABC special that aired instead of ‘The Good Doctor,’ ‘Luke Brian: Living Every Day,’ only averaged a 0.8 rating. This clearly shows that people might stay after watching ‘Dancing with the Stars’, but that a majority of viewers (more than half) tune in to ABC to specifically watch ‘The Good Doctor.’

By: Alex E. Álvarez

This past week, ‘The Good Doctor’ got a final L+SD rating of 1.9 with a total viewership of 10.6 million. The show keeps a consistent average of 2.03 rating becoming the most successful medical drama since the premiere of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. With that in mind, it is worth doing a comparative analysis of the two shows since they both have a similar rating average, but ‘The Good Doctor’ leads in total viewership.

A show that initially was conceived to appeal to the 18-49 demographic, ‘The Good Doctor’ has attracted more than 4 times total viewers compared to its 18-49 reach. In the fifth week, The Good Doctor averaged a total L+7 viewership of 10.4 million while Grey’s Anatomy only gathered 7.7 million viewers L+7. However, both shows averaged 2.3 million viewers in the 18-49 rating L+7.

On Monday nights, ABC averages 10 million viewers, almost twice the viewers of Thursday nights. This shows that the night affects the total viewership of a show, and that even though ‘The Good Doctor’ has more viewership, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ has a higher percentage of the 18-49 demographic in a night with less total viewers.

By: Alex E. Álvarez

After five weeks from the beginning of this season, ‘The Good Doctor’ keeps breaking records and averages 17.4 million viewers, half-million more than last season’s record-breaker ‘This Is Us’. The show most recently won the third week L+SD ratings battle averaging 18.2 million viewers after gaining 7 million viewers. In comparison to direct competitors, ‘The Good Doctor’ has solidified its mandate over the Monday 10 pm slot.

NBC’s ‘The Brave’ has gradually been declining since its premiere on September 25^th. On Week 1, it gained a 1.3 rating that has been going down until Week 5, when the show gained a 1.0 rating. Averaging a 1.1 rating, NBC doesn’t seem to be succeeding with its counter-programming technique.

Similarly, CBS’s ‘Scorpion’ has decreased its ratings significantly since its first season. With a strong 2.3 average during its first season, ‘Scorpion’ now averages a 0.8 rating that has gradually declined over the years.

As I predicted, both, ‘The Brave’ and ‘Scorpion’ have fought for a similar segment, and ‘The Good Doctor’ (with an average 2.0 rating) has thrived as the only alternative for the 18-49 female demographics.

By: Alex E. Álvarez

After years of struggling in the Monday 10 pm slot, ABC has found consistency and high numbers with their new drama, ‘The Good Doctor’. This past week (October 16^th), the show scored a 2.1 rating in the 18-49 demo and a total of 10.9 viewers L+SD.

In the L+7 18-49 demo, the show also keeps thriving. During its second week (October 2^nd), ‘The Good Doctor’ “rose from a 2.2 to a 4.3 for an increase of 95 percent. . . [and] from 10.9 million viewers to 18.1 million for an increase of 66 percent” (Otterson). During the third week (October 9^th), the show saw an 80 percent increase in the L+3 18-49 rating totaling a 3.6 rating, and a 52 percent increase in viewers totaling 16.3 million (Porter).

This consistency has given ‘The Good Doctor’ a high standing as the best new scripted drama of the season, only behind ‘This Is Us’ in terms of ratings. For advertisers, the show is “a hell of a bargain” with an average unit cost of $125,678 per 30-second spot that translates into a $46.42 CPM (Crupi). If the show maintains these numbers, a second season renewal will be imminent.

By: Alex E. Álvarez

‘The Good Doctor’ saw a half-a-rating drop this past Monday. Still ahead of its competition, the show got a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demo with 10.6 million total viewers. While people are still tuning in, it seems that the buzz of the first weeks have started to settle down a bit. Many critics hate ‘The Good Doctor’ because it is too sentimental, too tragic or even too simplistic. However, viewers are still engaged, embracing the sentimental approach to Shaun Murphy’s life.

Media buyers seem to also be optimistic about the show. Nick Hartofilis, EVP of National Video Activation at Zenith, thinks the show is “a bit unique… compelling…could have real staying power for that network” showing that it can bring in some ad revenue for ABC. In the end, the goal of these shows is to appeal to advertisers and bring them into the fold.

‘The Good Doctor’ seems to be capitalizing on that sentimental approach to Shaun Murphy, and it has used its social media to further reach its audiences. This past week, Freddie Highmore recorded a video showing the Operation Room, hopefully engaging viewers across all platforms.

#FreddieHighmore has a message for you! #TheGoodDoctor pic.twitter.com/5hXfbwsssB

— The Good Doctor (@GoodDoctorABC) October 5, 2017

By: Alex E. Álvarez

After the airing of two episodes of ‘The Good Doctor’, the show landed a full-season order at ABC becoming the first drama of this fall season to get such deal. The pilot viewership increased in the L+3 measurement by 1.5 rating, totaling a 3.7 rating in the 18-49 demo, and total viewers increased by 5.5 million to a total of almost 17 million viewers.

#TheGoodDoctor has been picked up for a full season!! ❤️??? pic.twitter.com/dPSyU0bAr5

— The Good Doctor (@GoodDoctorABC) October 3, 2017

This past week, the show maintained its audience by earning a 2.4 rating in the 18-49 demo as well as a total of 11.49 million viewers. This seemed to be enough for ABC to order the full season.

‘The Good Doctor’ was picked up in May for a 13-episode season, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, five additional episodes were ordered on Tuesday to increase the total count to 18 episodes, the “new normal” for broadcast dramas.

Channing Dungey, president, ABC Entertainment, comments on full-season order

It seems that despite some negative reviews by critics, the big names in front and behind the camera as well as the ‘feel-good’ mood of the show have been enough to get viewers to keep tuning in.

By: Alex E. Álvarez

Finally, ‘The Good Doctor’ premiered strongly this past Monday, September 25^th, after ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’. As I expected, the show won the 10 pm time slot against ‘The Brave’ (NBC) and ‘Scorpion’ (CBS). Both these shows followed the trend of military television considering our current political climate while ‘The Good Doctor’ deviated from that tone. This brought a different target audience to tune into a show that essentially gives hope, relieve, ‘sassiness’ and a lot more feelings characteristic of what many refer to as ‘feel good TV’.

"I couldn't save them. it's sad.
Neither one had the chance to become an adult. They should have become adults." #TheGoodDoctor pic.twitter.com/tQccZNomZb

— The Good Doctor (@GoodDoctorABC) September 26, 2017

Interestingly, it even got more ratings than its lead-in (‘Dancing with the Stars’ got a 1.5 rating) averaging 11.22 million viewers and a 2.4 rating that was finally adjusted into a 2.2 rating. However, this number is huge if compared to both of its competing shows: ‘The Brave’ got a 1.4 rating that then adjusted to a 1.3, and Scorpion got a 1.0 in its third season premiere.

As expected, these last two battled among the 25-54 male demo, leaving ‘The Good Doctor’ to take all the rest of the audience, the 18-49 more female skewing demo, with a smart counter programming technique. Way to go, ABC!

Watch pilot on ABC!

By: Alex E. Álvarez