OK, I guess the TV seasons before most people had televisions were worse, but this season was for the birds, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The four major networks (that’d be CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – sorry CW) lost an average of 16 percent of viewership in the coveted “demo” – adults 18-49. That includes DVR use.
Fox was on top, followed by CBS, ABC and NBC. But “on top” still includes a steep drop.
Why is this?
A whole mess of things.
First off, a lot of people are watching online – legally and illegally (Hulu an example of the former, BitTorrent an example of the latter). I know some folks who don’t have televisions, even, and only watch what they like online.
Second, a lot of people watch on DVR, but not within that 7-day window included in ratings. For example, my husband and I haven’t watched Season 2 of Damages yet. The entire season is sitting there on our DVR. We just finished up the entire first seasons of Dollhouse and Better off Ted in a few days in marathon viewing sessions. (I’ll be writing about BoT in a couple days). I still have episodes of Reaper, the season finale of Supernatural and Sunday’s episode of Breaking Bad on my DVR, waiting for me to have a chance to sit down and watch ‘em.
Then there’s the whole DVD experience, too. A few years ago, we caught up on the first two seasons of Alias by borrowing them from the library. I’ve been watching Season 1 of Torchwood on DVD, a Christmas present.
The ratings were as of Wednesday night, which marked the “official” end of the TV season. Did you even know that? Didn’t think so.
There is no such thing as a TV season anymore. We just were treated to a third season of Burn Notice this winter, and another one is coming this summer. Some shows never start until “midseason” (24, American Idol, Lost). Others bounce around the scheduling calendar (Battlestar Galactica, Kyle XY).
Yet the ratings system, other than adding the DVR and DVR+7 ratings into the mix, hasn’t changed in forever.
It’s time to change. We’ve lost too many good shows (Jericho, Kings) to the poor way ratings are measured. All the networks own multiple stations now; if the ratings for Kings are too low for NBC proper, why not send it on over to USA or even SyFy?
C’mon. The Nielsen ratings are so … 1980s.
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I completely agree. Very often I won’t start watching a new tv show in its first season until I know it is good and has been renewed. Then I’ll catch up the next year. My family is all watching season one of Big Bang Theory now. I’m still only on Season 4 of Buffy. The old rating system is obsolete but nobody knows how to fix it.
I honestly don’t know how to fix the prolem, but Nielsens are certainly completely outdated. I never got around to watching the third season of Arrested Development until it showed up on hulu. A friend of mine held out on this season of 24 until his trip to Hong Kong. He then downloaded all eight episodes that were on iTunes, and watched it in a big chunk on the flight over. Many of my friends use their computers/iPods/iTunes to watch their shows because they work nights or are on tour. That is a big chunk of savvy, intelligent viewers that are being completely ignored by the old timey Nielsens, people who never watched television before they had these options. I get to have a life and be a big ol’ TV watcher because of the DVR, and like you, sometimes things sit on there for weeks before I get a chance to watch.
It seems so clear, I don’t understand why they can’t get it through their thick, network skulls.
Thanks for your comments, guys. I still haven’t seen Buffy, but plan to get to it on DVD one of these days. I mean, it’s Joss Whedon.
It’s just so silly that in a world with today’s options, we should be expected to sit down at an appointed hour to watch. There are only three shows I do that for – 24, Lost and Battlestar Galactica.
BSG’s over and Lost has one season left. 24, I liveblog, so that’s the ONLY one I watch literally live. Even the other two, I’d wait 15 minutes or so into it so I could skip the commercials.