Tag Archives: ratings

The Slap-By The Numbers

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Since its premiere, The Slap has enjoyed modest ratings. It dipped a bit when it changed timeslots, but for the most part, it has stayed pretty consistent between 3 and 3.5 million viewers with a 0.7-0.8 rating. However, these are not the only numbers that matter. The show has benefited greatly from L+3 viewings. For 2 weeks in a row, The Slap saw a 51% increase in viewers with L+3 numbers. This meant that it gained 1-1.1 million viewers with this delay. In this era of changing viewing habits, these are not numbers that should be ignored.

The show also has a 116 index of adults living in homes with $100K incomes. This upscale audience is likely to bring in desirable advertisers for NBC, which could be a contributing factor as to why the show hasn’t gotten cancelled. If the network is making money from advertisers, they won’t worry as much about the modest ratings.

One Big Happy ep. 2

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As predicted, the ratings for One Big Happy have decreased from a 1.6 series premier rating to a 1.2 rating for the second episode, falling 25 percent. I did not see a lot of twitter buzz about the show, but I did see some interesting comments on different blogs. One author from afterellen.com said she actually liked the second episode of the show and stated, “I was shocked at how many commenters said they would give the show a couple more chances to knock their socks off, and if it failed, they’d just change the channel to one of 20 more shows with lesbian characters that air on Tuesday (deliberate exaggeration). It says a lot about how far we’ve come that we can afford to be picky.” Again, many viewers felt the show was trying to use the same type of humor as shows like Two and a Half Men. Some viewers said they wish OBH would write for the audience it wants rather than an audience created by other successful comedies. Promotion continued for the show this week as one of its stars, Elisha Cuthbert, appeared on The Tonight Show. One Big Happy competes with shows including iZombie, Weird Loners, The Dovekeepers, and Criminal Minds.

The Slap-Beyond the Screen

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It seems as though The Slap is getting more comfortable in its new 10 pm timeslot on NBC. After taking a hit on 3/12 and dropping to 2.74 million viewers with a 0.6/2 rating, it rose closer to the numbers from previous weeks with 3.18 million viewers and a 0.7/2 rating. With 2 episodes left, I expect the ratings to stay around this zone.

The Slap was recently prominently featured in a New York Times article. A woman who lives in Brooklyn (where the show takes place) was walking down the street and nearly run over by a young boy on a scooter, prompting her to yell an expletive at the child. His mother was appalled but the “victim’s” community (read: Facebook friends) supported her actions, some even feeling she didn’t go far enough. It seems these kinds of discussions on parenting styles are being fueled by the show. Even if they haven’t seen it, the people of Brooklyn have an opinion. One resident said, “These are some of the most hateful people you will find, until, of course you leave your apartment.” So even if The Slap isn’t winning in the ratings, they seem to have struck a cord of realism, at least in their New York setting.

Battle Creek by the Numbers

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Battle Creek, now with three weeks of viewership statistics to digest has dug in with steady numbers in key demographics. The results so far? Not great. But there are a couple of things that must be taken into account when you look at these numbers.

1. 10pm on a broadcast network isn’t great anymore. People on in the eastern time zone start to go to bed, especially people aged 50 and above, a significant chunk of CBS’s audience, traditionally.

2. After football season, Sunday night becomes cable’s domain. Between the Walking Dead, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, and True Detective, broadcasters are having a tougher time than ever.

That being said, Battle Creek has performed solidly in terms of overall viewership, cracking the top four of programs broadcast on March 15th. The crime procedural also has seen raw numbers north of 6.5 million viewers every week.

Then why is Battle Creek performing so poorly in the 18-49 demographic, only barely hitting a 1.0 it’s first week, and then .08 and .09 in the second and third weeks, respectively? I think the answer is the Walking Dead, AMC’s zombie-core program that has been breaking cable ratings records for the past couple of years. Dead’s impact is so significant that AMC runs a pre-show and a post-show analysis program bookending the show.

While there has been rumblings of the show needing to perform better to avoid being cancelled, the silver lining is that the overall viewership numbers are pretty good. That, coupled with favorable critical reception, give Battle Creek a fighting chance.

American Crime- Second Episode Ratings Drop

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During “American Crime”‘s second week on television, the series drew headlines for losing a sizable chunk of its audience compared to the week before. In the 18-49 demo, the show lost six tenths of a rating point, and has left many wondering how the show will perform in the next few weeks of its 11-episode season.

“American Crime”‘s lead-ins “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy” were also down, so that almost certainly contributed to the show’s drop-off, but there could be another reason why the show isn’t performing like some anticipated it would.

The series has a different feel to it than its time slot predecessor “How To Get Away With Murder”, and viewers seeking a Shonda Rhimes sensationalized hour of TV may feel empty after watching “American Crime”. The series may just not be the type of programming that ABC viewers are looking for on Thursday nights, which doesn’t diminish its quality, but may just indicate that it needs to find a different place on TV.

American Crime- First Week

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“American Crime” performed well during its first episode premiere on March 5th. Ratings wise, approximately 8.4 million people tuned into the show, which benefited from its lead- in (“Scandal”) and heavy promotion during the Academy Awards a few weeks prior. However, while the show started on fairly solid footing, there was a noticeable drop off when it came to viewers 18-49 from “Scandal”. “American Crime’ only captured about 60% of viewers 18-49 from the hour preceding it.

Reviews for the show have been strong, and critics have been almost universally giving it high praise. However, there has been some conversation about whether this type of program is appropriate for broadcast television, when it has more of a “cable-esque” feel to it.

 

The Slap–New Timeslot

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Following the cancellation of another new show, Allegiance, The Slap moved to NBC’s 10 pm timeslot on March 12th. This perhaps would have been the slot to start off the show, not to move it to halfway through the episodes. Due to its slightly risque subject matter and somewhat explicit scenes, the 10 pm slot makes more sense for the miniseries. The change also led to a drop in the already low numbers. The show lost over a million viewers when it aired at 10. Perhaps this is also because NBC didn’t properly advertise the change. I only knew about it because I read the trades and am looking out for news about the show. I never saw any advertisements informing viewers that the show would now be on at 10. These ratings also seem to indicate that there is little to no chance of a second season. Since it has been dubbed a miniseries, NBC will likely air the remaining episodes but that will be all we see of The Slap.

Odd Couple Update #5

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After losing some of its initial audience in its second week, The Odd Couple rebounded after its third airing. The new CBS Thursday night sitcom won its 8:30 pm time slot on March 5, 2015 and according to Variety, it came within one tenth of a percentage point of its series premiere rating (on February 19th). It still looks like CBS’ hammock approach is working; while it is not scoring the numbers that its time slot predecessor, The Big Bang Theory is achieving, The Odd Couple is growing in viewership week-to-week and is benefiting from the lead-in. It will be interesting to see the numbers for The Odd Couple’s fourth showing, which will be on March 12th. Following the March 12th broadcast, The Odd Couple will be on hiatus for two weeks while CBS broadcasts NCAA Basketball. It will also be important to track whether or not the two week disruption will affect its aforementioned audience growth.

World’s Funniest Fails Weeks 3/4

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Back again! World’s Funniest Fails continues to keep its ahead above water in the death slot, on Fridays @ 8pm. For a show that should have been off the air a while ago World’s Funniest Fails is making quite the statement as of late. Since February 13th, the total viewers have gone up every single week with the most recent viewing coming in at just under 3 million total. While the ratings have now been stuck at .8 for the last four weeks the show is definitely making progress. Fox has officially ordered EIGHT, yes you heard that right, eight! new episodes. From Variety, “WORLD’S FUNNIEST FAILS ranks No. 1 in its time period among Men 18-34 (tie), Teens (tie) and No. 2 among Adults 18-34 (tie) and has improved upon FOX’s prior season average in the time period with entertainment programming in Adults 18-49 (+38%), Adults 18-34 (+60%), Teens (+50%) and Total Viewers (+45%).” Killing it! Hopefully Terry Crews and Co. can keep their momentum going through March into April and May. Stay tuned ! And don’t forget to check the show out, Fridays @ 8pm on FOX !

The Slap – Post 4

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This week, ratings for The Slap are down yet again. Its rating declined by 0.1, which is not as bad as the week before, but still is not ideal. However, Bob Greenblatt, head of NBC Entertainment, has no regrets about the show. He told Variety earlier this week, “I’m very happy with the critical acclaim and the quality of “The Slap.” I’m not going to regret doing something that is really high quality, but I am disappointed in the rating not being higher.” NBC is standing behind its programming, even if viewers are not flocking to it as they hoped.

One reason for this lack of viewers could be the show’s lackluster social media activity. Their Twitter, at just under 4,500 followers, does not really interact with the viewers. Instead, it live tweets during the show and posts about the upcoming episode. Occasionally, it will retweet a kind word from a viewer, but this does not seem to promote much audience engagement. Perhaps, if it had a larger social media presence, more people would know about the show and get excited about it.