Going into week 4 of Black Lightning, the show still holds strong in ratings. The premiere episode received a 0.8 for viewers ages 18-49 and a total of 2.31 million viewers. In the second week of the show’s premiere, TV by the numbers claims that the show is the CW’s best debut in nearly 2 years and is a sure bet for renewal in 2018-2019. Much of this success may be do the the shows placement after The Flash. Having two DC comic book hero shows back to back may draw in similar (if not more) viewers invested in the hero’s. Even when competing with the State of Union in its third week, Black Lightning still pulls in 2.2 million viewers and a 0.8 for viewers ages 18-49.

The views for tonight (week 4) will be one to watch with the show competing with new episodes of This is Us (NBC), Bull (CBS), and Blackish (ABC). Tuesday nights at 9:00 p.m. are difficult nights to pull in live viewer ratings. 

Sources:

http://comicbook.com/dc/2018/01/31/tv-ratings-tuesday-black-lightning-flash-high/

Cancel Bear vs. The CW, week 17: ‘Black Lightning’ opens as a sure bet for renewal

This year’s Super Bowl has made the history books! According to TV News, Super Bowl LII is the top 10 most viewed program in U.S. Television history. That makes a third historic program for NBC (they currently hold number 1 for Super Bowl XLIX in 2015). Some of this success may have to attributed to the teams of this years game with this being the first Super Bowl that the Philadelphia Eagles had a chance of winning (according to their season success).

The program also broke records in the advertisement world. NBC profited 414 million dollars in ad sales alone, according to TV News. That would make this program the second all time ad sales program in history (last year’s Super Bowl received $419 million for FOX).

Although the Super Bowl broke many records in the TV world, it also sparked much debate in the social media world especially after a NFL protests of police brutality. Leading up to the program on Sunday night, various government and public figures called for attention to how the NFL handled players kneeling during the national anthem of games. Even though the viewers broke records, these factors may have to do with the decline in numbers from last year.

Sources/References:

How Much Did NBC Make on Advertising for This Year’s Super Bowl?

Updated Super Bowl Ratings: Sunday’s Game Cracks the Top 10 TV Programs of All Time

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/04/politics/white-house-trump-super-bowl-anthem/index.html

Strong Social Media Presence Going into Week 3 of Black Lightning

Going into the third week of Black Lightning’s premier, the show still sparks buzz within the media but especially within social media. The show stars actors such as China Anne McClain, Tyler Perry debut actress and Disney Channel star, and Jill Scott, Grammy Award wining singer and actress. Highlighting their presence within the show appears to be a strong tactic used to increase views on CW. In a similar way, the other actors and actresses on the show have conducted various interviews with entertainment magazines and websites about their characters. Nafessa Williams in particular has a trending interview with Entertainment Weekly that discusses her views and excitement portraying one of the first Black lesbian superhero in prime time television. On Twitter, William’s character gains highlights from Buzz Feed LGBT and Pink News. According to TV By the Numbers, 1.94 million people watched the second episode of Black Lightning with the reveal of William’s controversial character. I will be following this trend as the show continues this month to see if the CW’s promotion of this character gets the network a wider demographic of media attention.

Sites:

http://ew.com/tv/2018/01/30/black-lightning-anissa-nafessa-williams-interview/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/we-all-stan-for-thunder?utm_term=.soNp0q8Qe&bftw=lgbt#.mdjb3dJ6M

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/01/26/black-lightnings-lesbian-superhero-has-a-black-girlfriend-and-people-are-loving-it/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=PNT&utm_content=JJ

TV Ratings Tuesday: ‘Bull’ scores season high, ‘Black Lightning’ stays solid