Disqus - Latest Comments for TVbytheNumbers

Re: The Big Idea Shelved - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

TVbytheNumbers — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:32:08 -0000

Networks almost never use the word "cancelled", so that distinction is meaningless. Looking at past behavior, once show is put on "hiatus" it's almost certainly dead.

Re: 60 Minutes Most-Watched Program Last Week - mediabistro.com: TVNewser

TVbytheNumbers — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:04:02 -0000

Steve, while it might have been the top-rated program in all broadcast *prime-time* television, I'd wager that one or more Sunday afternoon NFL game national broadcasts topped it. We don't see last weeks non-prime-time sports numbers until Friday, but I will follow up if I remember.

Re: O’Reilly vs. Olbermann Through Thursday, August 28

TVbytheNumbers — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:53:00 -0000

My guess that Olbermann's rise was significantly tied to the high level of interest in the Democratic nomination race. I think he can maintain his current level through the election, but if Obama wins I think he's going to have trouble finding the level of targets he has over the recent past.

I think his level of ratings success can allow him a pretty wide latitude within (and outside) MSNBC, but if that success falls off the long knives may come out quickly.

Re: Wimbledon Tennis Viewership, 1973-2008

TVbytheNumbers — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:47:06 -0000

The numbers are the average viewership across all telecasts for that year.

I don't have any information why the average viewership would have fallen so sharply in 1983.

Re: O’Reilly vs. Olbermann Through Thursday, August 28

TVbytheNumbers — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:19:55 -0000

Franz, about 80% of O'Reilly viewers are over 54 (2 million of 2.5 million). That is fairly typical of TV news viewers.

About 60% of Olbermann viewers are over 54 (700k of 1.1 million). That is a low % for TV news.

And it's the 25-54 demo that makes the money for the networks.

Re: O’Reilly vs. Olbermann Through Thursday, August 28

TVbytheNumbers — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:35:55 -0000

Joe, we only started the site last fall and my detailed knowledge only goes back that far, but my understanding was that MSNBC was way behind its current position before they made many changes, among them getting Olbermann.

Re: The Renew/Cancel Index, Our Predictor Of Show Futures

TVbytheNumbers — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:01:58 -0000

Mike G., cost definitely plays a factor and we can do little but guess about it most of the time. Also, the networks have *far* more data than we do on which to base their decisions. My simple calculation worked out pretty well for backwards prediction purposes, but I have no illusion that the decision for the networks for those shows "on the bubble" is far from simple.

Re: First Night Democratic Convention Ratings Way Up Over 2004

TVbytheNumbers — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:56:12 -0000

Frank, they reflect the average number of viewers watching during the entire time period specified.

For the graphic above there are two time periods: total day (defined as 6a-3a) and prime-time (8p-11p).

It is correct to say, for example, that on average 3.7 million people were watching CNN during the period from 8-11p Monday night.

Re: ABC 2008 Fall Schedule vs. 2007 Fall Schedule

TVbytheNumbers — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:28:32 -0000

Kathy, Women's Murder Club was cancelled, it's not coming back

Re: Weekly Top Cable Networks: August 18-24

TVbytheNumbers — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:29:02 -0000

MIKE, we always see the top 20 overall cable network data. Occasionally we see the top 31. Neither of those channels have ever been on either list in the past year.

Re: The Renew/Cancel Index, Our Predictor Of Show Futures

TVbytheNumbers — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:28:12 -0000

kcferret, the ratings are just statistical calculations done by Nielsen from their available data. Are they perfect? No. Are they the currently accepted standard for evaluating the audience of a TV show and therefore its revenue potential? Yes.

As for all the variables you wrote about, I'm sure they were part of the factors considered by CBS programming management in evaluating whether to renew or cancel Moonlight.

Re: Cable News Ratings for Tuesday, August 26

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:42:38 -0000

rss, We didn't get our regular ratings data for Monday, sadly. Only the aggregate ratings that we did post.

Re: The Renew/Cancel Index, Our Predictor Of Show Futures

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:22:36 -0000

Robert, we have no real data on the costs for shows, mostly TV industry rumors, but the story was at the end of the season Fox kept 'Til Death because of it's lower cost. It was specifically compared to Back to You which had very similar ratings (see above) but because of Kelsey Grammar and Patricia Heaton's salaries was said to be much more expensive. Again, it was all part of the rumor mill.

Re: The Renew/Cancel Index, Our Predictor Of Show Futures

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:47:41 -0000

wopa, DH is likely one of the most valuable shows on TV from a revenue perspective.

Re: The Renew/Cancel Index, Our Predictor Of Show Futures

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:44:59 -0000

Holly, it was using the Nielsen STD numbers which *do* include in-slot repeats.

They are the only STD numbers that we see.

Re: The Renew/Cancel Index, Our Predictor Of Show Futures

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:18:14 -0000

Chmarin, thanks, it's fixed. That was an error from May that I failed to correct in the original list.

Re: The Renew/Cancel Index, Our Predictor Of Show Futures

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:59:45 -0000

Robert, I agree.

Since we're starting early, we can also watch week to week trends of the index and add that to our data for conclusions. Something that's impossible with an end of season list like this.

Re: Nielsen Ratings Tuesday, August 26: NBC’s Got Talent

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:21:53 -0000

wopa, it was indicated in all our sources as being new, but I didn't watch the show myself.

Re: First Night Democratic Convention Ratings Way Up Over 2004

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:32:38 -0000

greggp, correct you are sir! But I cannot claim that particular table. Unlike almost all the other graphics/tables on our site, that one came from elsewhere. ;)

Re: First Night Democratic Convention Ratings Way Up Over 2004

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:22:03 -0000

Moderate, Joe,

CNN is prone to viewership "surges" for big news events. People who rarely watch cable news tune to them when something big happens that's covered by everybody (as opposed to something like a debate/interview carried on only one network).

MSNBC viewership just doesn't behave that way. They have a solid block of, presumably, left leaning viewers that turns out for them, but doesn't have that surge capability.

Fox News is more like MSNBC in that regard except their base block of right leaning viewers is larger than MSNBC's base.

Re: More Weekly Cable Ratings Miscellany

TVbytheNumbers — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:30:10 -0000

BTW, I just watched the L&O:CI season finale on the DVR, it was very good, and of course a Goren/Eames episode (which you already could tell by the 5m+ viewership number).

The previous week's Nolan/Wheeler "finale" (and Chris Noth's [Nolan] final show) drew only 4.6 million.

Re: Weekly Top Cable Networks: August 18-24

TVbytheNumbers — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:47:54 -0000

Rusty, we will, but the data has not yet appeared.

Re: James Hibberd’s Six Lessons Learned from the Olympics

TVbytheNumbers — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:47:06 -0000

I somewhat disagree with Hibberd on that point.

I *do* think that broadcast TV's overall audience share will continue its long term decline.

However, NBC has in the recent past declined much more rapidly than ABC, FOX and CBS. Their relatively bad performance isn't inevitable. They could certainly aspire to be at the top of the broadcast pile instead of simply just beating the CW.

Re: Cable News Ratings for Wednesday, July 9

TVbytheNumbers — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:16:11 -0000

Frank, if you're a Nielsen family your 5 minutes of Fox viewing would be added in with all the other viewer data. If you're not a Nielsen family, your viewing doesn't count! ;)

Re: Olympics Opening Ceremony Leads DVR Viewing

TVbytheNumbers — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:13:28 -0000

TVa, No, I don't think I can motivate myself to go back and do those with everything else I have going on, sorry ;)