TV Ratings for The End

[nicmar]

in a manner of speaking

[Lexgirl33]

[chole_fan]

most likely that is true but how much networks pay attenion to these numbers is another issue

I think they are paying more attention than they used to. I know at first, they discounted it because advertisers hated it...you could just skip their commericals. But it's obvious now that people are changing the way they watch TV. There are so many options other than live viewing...DVR, Online, DVD's, etc... Back in the day if you missed a show live, you might not ever get to see that episode or you would have to wait months for a rerun. That's not the case now. Thats why shows don't even come close to approaching the ratings that used to be common place 20-25 years ago. If I remember correctly The Cosby Show, at the height of it's popularity, used to get over 30 million viewers every week, and it wasn't alone. I'm not sure we will ever see a show consistenly perform at those levels again. And if they networks want to survive they are going to have to take technology into account and change how the decide which programming is a "hit" and which is not.

The Nielsen's rating system is sooo outdated it is not even funny. I really don't think it is all that accurate anymore.

[nicmar]

I think they are paying more attention than they used to. I know at first, they discounted it because advertisers hated it...you could just skip their commericals. But it's obvious now that people are changing the way they watch TV. There are so many options other than live viewing...DVR, Online, DVD's, etc... Back in the day if you missed a show live, you might not ever get to see that episode or you would have to wait months for a rerun. That's not the case now. Thats why shows don't even come close to approaching the ratings that used to be common place 20-25 years ago. If I remember correctly The Cosby Show, at the height of it's popularity, used to get over 30 million viewers every week, and it wasn't alone. I'm not sure we will ever see a show consistenly perform at those levels again. And if they networks want to survive they are going to have to take technology into account and change how the decide which programming is a "hit" and which is not.

The Nielsen's rating system is sooo outdated it is not even funny. I really don't think it is all that accurate anymore.

What you say is very true another reason for the drop viewers per show is that there are so many choices with 300 cable stations as well as internet shows ect. The networks probably won't change their thinking untill they can find a way to make money off of dvr numbers because as you say advertisers don't want their ad fast fowarded through. Excellent dvr numbers did not save Terminator last year but they did help Dollhouse and Chuck so I guess at best it's a case by case basis.

[chole_fan]

Ratings for last night:

2.57 million 1.2/3

I don't like this trend

Just curious, but I saw on other boards, blogs, etc...that some Sam fans were boycotting this episode due to Jared's lack of screen time. They felt slighted after last year's ITB and then another Jared lite episode this year...well a lot of them said they were not watching. So could that have affected this week?? Or could it be people were getting tired of the brothers being apart?? Maybe this weeks resolution will bring people back.

I know we don't have to worry about ratings...I just hate to see such a good show get such poor ratings

[Lexgirl33]

OMG I am not going to get into the screen time thing Its just ridiculous IMO that people complain about it.

I don't we'll get lower than 2.5 this season.

[nicmar]

I don't think that people really boycoted, I mean anythings possible but there have been more Dean or Sam centric episodes before so I don't see why they would do that. Even if a few fans went through with that I don't think it was a national trend. The reason for the ratings dip are this and in no particular order

1. The lead in is different VD fans by and large are not Supernatural fans so it's not helping
2 Fringe, CSI, are two big ratings getters and NBC comidies do pretty well. Fringe in particular draws alot form the same type auidence.
3. As much as we like the show it is 5 years old now which is were we see drop off in many shows.
4. CW really does a poor job marketing Supernatural, I have literly seen 10 Melrose Place adds to every 1 Supernatural ad. That's just tv if you count print ads I am sure the number is closer to 15 to 1. Sadly Supernatural is not now nor has it ever been a priority for CW.

[chole_fan]

I don't think that people really boycoted, I mean anythings possible but there have been more Dean or Sam centric episodes before so I don't see why they would do that. Even if a few fans went through with that I don't think it was a national trend. The reason for the ratings dip are this and in no particular order

1. The lead in is different VD fans by and large are not Supernatural fans so it's not helping
2 Fringe, CSI, are two big ratings getters and NBC comidies do pretty well. Fringe in particular draws alot form the same type auidence.
3. As much as we like the show it is 5 years old now which is were we see drop off in many shows.
4. CW really does a poor job marketing Supernatural, I have literly seen 10 Melrose Place adds to every 1 Supernatural ad. That's just tv if you count print ads I am sure the number is closer to 15 to 1. Sadly Supernatural is not now nor has it ever been a priority for CW.

I agree with this to some extent. As fas as the boycotting, do you go to other fansites besides this one?? Because there was a serious uproar and it wasn't just a few. There are people out there timing each episode and recording each character/actors screen time and using it to prove that Sam is being left out. So it is more than just a few people.

1. Very true. VD may be getting similar ratings to SV, but it's audience is far less likely to stick around for SN.

2. CSI can't be the reason...we've been up against it ever since we moved to TH nights...plus it has lost a lot of viewers itself over the last few years. Fringe...some of our audience probably went there, but it is not a huge ratings getter either - only about 6 million viewers this week. Same with the NBC comedies...the office is the highest rated and it is only in the 7 millions...the rest lag around the 5 million mark.

3. True.

4. That has always been the case, like you said, so that wouldn't account for the ratings job for this year specifically. Although all that advertising didn't exactly do those other shows any good

I guess it is just a combination of things, although these are not unseen ratings levels. We had these types of ratings for most of seasons 2 and 3. We really experienced a ratings jump last year and I was hoping it would stick. We still are not in record low territory.

I really just want to see us level out.

[nicmar]

My point was that I felt that the show is suffering from a combination of the things listed above they all have to be factored in so if each one of them is taking viewer then as a whole they could acount for the dip. Then again it could be somthing else entirely. but in response to your points and they were good I would say

First Even if you add up all the fansites and that assumes they are not populated by the same people because then they would be counted twice. Also only the members in the US would be counted by the neilsons ratings so any one outside the coutry could not be counted for the pourpose of this discussion. Let's then assume what 1/2 or 1/4 of those people actually boycotted. Now even if we start with a quater of million people on fansites and I think we can agree that more than there are, after we eliminate the people outside the US and take 1/3 the remainder who may have boycoted will be in the area of 35,000 to 50,000 people which is still not nearly enough to move a national rating. The Hardcore fan by and large is not the casual fan and the casual fan is what makes up 90% of the tv viewing auidence.

Second The total number of viewers for Fringe is not so much the issue as how many viewers it takes from Supernatural specificaly. SN does not have that many to start so if Fringe takes 1million live viwerss that like a 1/4 of the auidence. But even a few hundred thousand is enough to make a dent.

Third I would say that when the networks was still WB they made a fair attempt to get the show out there, and also the lack of advertising hurts now in that Supernatural is not being helped to replace lost viewers.

All of that said we can agree that it is indeed a combination of things at work

[chole_fan]

My point was that I felt that the show is suffering from a combination of the things listed above they all have to be factored in so if each one of them is taking viewer then as a whole they could acount for the dip. Then again it could be somthing else entirely. but in response to your points and they were good I would say

First Even if you add up all the fansites and that assumes they are not populated by the same people because then they would be counted twice. Also only the members in the US would be counted by the neilsons ratings so any one outside the coutry could not be counted for the pourpose of this discussion. Let's then assume what 1/2 or 1/4 of those people actually boycotted. Now even if we start with a quater of million people on fansites and I think we can agree that more than there are, after we eliminate the people outside the US and take 1/3 the remainder who may have boycoted will be in the area of 35,000 to 50,000 people which is still not nearly enough to move a national rating. The Hardcore fan by and large is not the casual fan and the casual fan is what makes up 90% of the tv viewing auidence.

Second The total number of viewers for Fringe is not so much the issue as how many viewers it takes from Supernatural specificaly. SN does not have that many to start so if Fringe takes 1million live viwerss that like a 1/4 of the auidence. But even a few hundred thousand is enough to make a dent.

Third I would say that when the networks was still WB they made a fair attempt to get the show out there, and also the lack of advertising hurts now in that Supernatural is not being helped to replace lost viewers.

All of that said we can agree that it is indeed a combination of things at work

Oh yeah, I don't think it can easily be explained by just one factor.

I actually agree with you on Fringe. I do believe there is a large crossover audience there and it has hurt our ratings. Out of everything, that may be the most significant factor, along with losing SV. Those are the only 2 things that have significantly changed since last year.

But the whole Sam thing......it really has reached ridiculous levels out there. People are crazy! And I feel bad for those who didn't watch last night for that reason alone, because they missed an excellent performance from Jared...

It is just disheartening to see such a quality show take a hit week are week...it makes me feel better to find ways to explain - or rationalize - the lack of ratings

[smeyer44]

Oh yeah, I don't think it can easily be explained by just one factor.

I actually agree with you on Fringe. I do believe there is a large crossover audience there and it has hurt our ratings. Out of everything, that may be the most significant factor, along with losing SV. Those are the only 2 things that have significantly changed since last year.

But the whole Sam thing......it really has reached ridiculous levels out there. People are crazy! And I feel bad for those who didn't watch last night for that reason alone, because they missed an excellent performance from Jared...

It is just disheartening to see such a quality show take a hit week are week...it makes me feel better to find ways to explain - or rationalize - the lack of ratings

Not to mention a big step in Sam's development in the present. He told Dean, right away, that he's Lucifer's true vessel. That's something that he wouldnt have done a year ago. This was about as mature as we've seen Sam, IMO.

[xrayvision]

Ratings for last night:

2.57 million 1.2/3

I don't like this trend

Just curious, but I saw on other boards, blogs, etc...that some Sam fans were boycotting this episode due to Jared's lack of screen time. They felt slighted after last year's ITB and then another Jared lite episode this year...well a lot of them said they were not watching. So could that have affected this week?? Or could it be people were getting tired of the brothers being apart?? Maybe this weeks resolution will bring people back.

I know we don't have to worry about ratings...I just hate to see such a good show get such poor ratings

I'm looking forward to Jared getting more time again next week, but it's ridiculous how that's being judged by screen time. The quality of his screen time was phenomenal & that is what should be judged. Plus, last week he had a great plot with those hunters & Lucifer as Jessica.

[WhamBamThankUSam]

It would be pretty stupid for fans of the show to boycott it because of his lack of screen time. I am a Sam girl and love seeing more of him, I would love to see a Jared heavy episode to give Jensen some me time, but I am not going to stop watching, because besides being a Sammy fan, I am a Supernatural fan. Why would they go out of there way to hurt the ratings? Doesn't make sense. I am inclined to believe it's other factors.

I hope they start going up, but there really is a lot of competition out there right now that it's going against.

[Lexgirl33]

Sam's character this season has been written really strong IMO. Sure he doesn't get a lot of screen time compared to Jensen but it has an impact for sure. Its memorable and that says a lot about an actor if he can have less screen time but make it so it's on top of the list of moments in an episode.

[superhippie2000]

i do hope at some point sam does get a full episode with less dean but seriously his roll is important in every episode. sucks the ratings were low. not sure if my viewing mattered since i was working off the wall on the tivo and not the cable box. so i apologize for my lack on viewership