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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

Ratings and Scheduling: Still More Numbers to Decipher

Kris117

By Kris117
in Person Of Interest [V]

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ShannaB
ShannaB

The audience actually has to pay attention every week!!

calguy
calguy

Renewed for a fifth season.   http://tvline.com/2015/05/11/cbs-renewals-2014-shows-renewed-person-of-interest-hawaii-five-0/

stealinghome
stealinghome

I agree that PoI being a non-CBS-owned show is the root cause of this, but it's still unusually shitty treatment even given those circumstances. Contrast it with what CBS did for The Mentalist last se

ppl

ppl

It seems like the preemption really did PoI in this week. All CBS shows on Tuesday lost at least 3 tenths after taking a week off. The crossover might have had a slight effect too.

 

I hope this week's number is a one-off and it will rise 3 tenths next week.

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stealinghome

stealinghome

Woot! Great for the show. I'm glad we had a good number this week, because I'm sure the numbers for 3x10 will drop. A three week break SUCKS, especially because at least where I am, they didn't show any previews--I'm sure some people thought last night was the mid-season finale.

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ppl

ppl

Woot! Great for the show. I'm glad we had a good number this week, because I'm sure the numbers for 3x10 will drop. A three week break SUCKS, especially because at least where I am, they didn't show any previews--I'm sure some people thought last night was the mid-season finale.

Oh, it will happen. The question is by how much. Last year, POI had a 3 week break with Lethe and it dropped 2 tenths from The Devil's Share.

 

The good news is that there will be no new episode of Chicago Fire, Forever or Sons of Anarchy. The only thing that will compete with POI should be The Voice finale but seeing its erosion this season, maybe POI only drops 1 tenth? Just hoping that it does not go down to series lows again.

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stealinghome

stealinghome

(edited)

Ugh, CBS' terrible scheduling strikes again: 1.3 for last night. CBS was down across the board; NCIS went down two-tenths from the last new episode, and NCIS: LA and PoI were both down four-tenths (probably because they were up against The Voice, which did really well). Maybe this will make them rethink their terrible scheduling decisions? (I wish.)

 

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/12/17/tv-ratings-tuesday-masterchef-junior-rises-person-of-interest-ncis-new-orleans-slide-to-series-lows/340586/

Edited by stealinghome
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Gigi43

Gigi43

The scheduling has been terrible. I thought the show was on break until the other day, and given how long it had been already between new episodes, I thought the fact that there was a new one at first meant they were going to show new ones into the new year, which I know usually isn't done, but giving their promo-ing out "Trilogy" and that it would mean no follow up until next year (so weird to type!) it just seems to make more sense to show them all rather than stop and start. The previous episode with Elias/Dominic would have been a much better choice to leave off. It did leave a little taste for the future at the end but it's also it's own story. They pulled this last season during the breaks in between episodes involving Carter and the follow-up and it was frustrating then, this time it just seems stupid.

 

Yikes, a 1.3... but I was looking the other day at TV By The Numbers reporting of 7-day (DVR views ect) numbers a and PoI seems to have pretty good gains, I believe the last 1.3 ended up at 2.3 if you do 7-day, and can gain 3 or 4 million total viewers more. I don't know how much that actually matters, but it's something good.

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GodsBeloved

GodsBeloved

Regarding the plus 7 ratings gain, PoI isn't doing anything extraordinary there. CF and Forever have been gaining around a point with plus 7 as well.

 

The advertisers don't care about how many people watch PoI. They care about how many people watch the ads. If that plus 7 segment do not watch the ads, they don't matter to the ones dishing out the cash.

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Bort

Bort

Regarding the plus 7 ratings gain, PoI isn't doing anything extraordinary there. CF and Forever have been gaining around a point with plus 7 as well.

 

The advertisers don't care about how many people watch PoI. They care about how many people watch the ads. If that plus 7 segment do not watch the ads, they don't matter to the ones dishing out the cash.

The plus 7 is mostly Hulu. Which has ads. So they care.

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Julia

Julia

(edited)

It's not available on Hulu, that I know of, but you can watch it on CBS' new for pay service, which seems to be a big part of their new business model, and iTunes and Amazon Prime. Season 4 wasn't included in the Netflix deal.

It'll be interesting to see how long CBS is willing to let all those NCIS viewers who are getting out of the habit of staying tuned to CBS go unaddressed. They have to be at least seriously reconsidering the decision to allow this to become a niche product at this point, especially since some of the regulars are among the most popular actors on television and people are actively choosing not to watch them.

Q scores

I genuinely wonder if Root and the story they wanted to tell are worth going down with the ship for the showrunners.

Edited by Julia
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MrWhyt

MrWhyt

 

They have to be at least seriously reconsidering the decision to allow this to become a niche product at this point,

But is there any evidence that the show has become a "niche product" and that this status is causing the low ratings?

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GodsBeloved

GodsBeloved

The first season and a half may be boring to you but the fact is according to the measure we have (Nielsen) , the earlier seasons had more eyes watching live plus the plus 7. More people cared enough/were interested enough in the show to take the time to watch it. Season 1 is the best PoI I have seen. I would rematch the entire season several times. Season 2 wasn't as engrossing but had some episodes that I would rematch several times. Season 3 was less engrossing than season 2. 

 

Whether the earlier seasons were better or the later/current season is better is a matter of taste/subjective. The numbers are objective. The numbers don't indicate how good the show is though because again that is subjective/a matter of taste.

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Bort

Bort

It's not available on Hulu, that I know of, but you can watch it on CBS' new for pay service, which seems to be a big part of their new business model, and iTunes and Amazon Prime. Season 4 wasn't included in the Netflix deal.

That's right, I forgot Person of Interest wasn't on Hulu, instead on CBS's own personal Hulu-like service. Does it have ads?

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Julia

Julia

That's right, I forgot Person of Interest wasn't on Hulu, instead on CBS's own personal Hulu-like service. Does it have ads?

 

Yeah, it does, but not all that many, and it's less kludgy than their old website. Also, it goes up almost immediately and you get the whole season, as well as some really neat things from their old catalogue, so I'm pretty happy.

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Syme

Syme

Yeah, it does, but not all that many, and it's less kludgy than their old website.

 

I.e it does not crash when you try and run it at all. I got behind on a CBS show  ~2 years ago. I gave up on the show after fighting with their alleged application.

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Gigi43

Gigi43

My cable provider has it OnDemand and you have to watch the ads, fast forwarding is disabled (it's like that for all recent OnDemand content, not just this show).

 

My cable is like that too.

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stealinghome

stealinghome

On a scheduling note, looks like after next week's new episode, we get a re-run on 3/2 (of 4x01). If past years are anything to go by, we'll probably get re-runs for most of March before April begins the stretch run.

 

I can't believe how fast this season has gone. After next week's episode, we only have 6 more left.

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ppl

ppl

(edited)

Apparently PoI was actually up a tenth last night to 1.7. I'm quite surprised (pleasantly so, obviously)--I thought for sure going up against the Parks and Rec finale would cause it to dip. Maybe there was less crossover in the audiences than I had anticipated.

This may be totally off-base but I think the more action-y promos that CBS puts out gets more viewers. (Episode 6, 9, 11, 16) Of course, the first 2 episodes this season scored a 1.8 but those 2 get the added benefit of being the season premiere and the 2nd episode of the season and that tends to bring in more viewers. Episode 12 was an extension of episode 11 (the continuation of the trilogy) therefore the promo for that episode would not have mattered.

 

As for p&r, what many people do not realize is that PoI's core audience in the demo this season is around the 1.6-1.7 range. That means regardless of any competition, PoI will be in that area provided that CBS has promoted the show properly. Even a heavily male skewing show like SoA did not make a huge dent in PoI's ratings last fall and Justified seems to be the same way.

 

People like to rationalize this week's PoI's increase due to Chicago Fire being switched out for Parks but that did not stop PoI from getting a 1.7 or higher against Chicago Fire in every month except December (where it only aired 1 episode) this season. What is more likely is that the promos seemed like high octane action so more of PoI's audience came back.

 

What has been astonishingly consistent about PoI's ratings this season has been the number of times it has been in the 1.6-1.7 level. In the past 11 telecasts, 8 of them have achieved a demo of 1.6 or 1.7. The other 3 were the first episodes coming off of a preemption and saw PoI go below 1.5 (all 3 episodes had no PoI repeats the week before -- food for thought). You'd have to go back to late October to find a regularly scheduled episode of PoI below 1.6.

 

The rating this week should seal the deal for PoI's early renewal in about 2 weeks time. It not only retained 90% of NCIS: NO's demo audience, it went up while NCIS & NCIS: NO went down to season lows and it also defeated NCIS: LA in the battle of the 10 PM CBS dramas. Moreover, this week's episode was flat from last year. Last year, CBS renewed PoI around mid March and I believe that if the next episode goes below 1.5 (which I severely doubt) to go along with CBS renewing shows later that week, they will still renew on the basis of these ratings from sweeps month.

Edited by ppl
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stealinghome

stealinghome

From thefutoncritic, the schedule for the next few weeks:

3/24/15 (Tu.) 10:00 PM CBS (#418) SKIP
3/17/15 (Tu.) 10:00 PM CBS (#402) Nautilus ®
3/10/15 (Tu.) 10:00 PM CBS (#417) Karma
3/3/15 (Tu.) 10:00 PM CBS (#401) Panopticon ®

If past years are anything to go by, I'm guessing that we'll get episode 19 on either 3/31 or 4/7, and then the show will break for a few weeks until 19-22 air on 4/28, 5/5, and 5/12. Wish they were showing some of the season's later episodes instead of the early ones...c'mon, CBS, re-running If-Then-Else would help the show way more than Nautilus!

 

I had forgotten how aggravating spring schedules can be. Last year, the only show I watched religiously was Once Upon a Time (I know, I'm embarrassed for myself), which experimented with the split schedule/long hiatus--and while the almost-three-month mid-season break was killer, it was amazing how nice it was to just know you were getting 11 episodes straight and didn't have to check the tv guide every week to know whether the show was new, a repeat, or preempted.

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ppl

ppl

(edited)

From thefutoncritic, the schedule for the next few weeks:

If past years are anything to go by, I'm guessing that we'll get episode 19 on either 3/31 or 4/7, and then the show will break for a few weeks until 19-22 air on 4/28, 5/5, and 5/12. Wish they were showing some of the season's later episodes instead of the early ones...c'mon, CBS, re-running If-Then-Else would help the show way more than Nautilus!

 

I had forgotten how aggravating spring schedules can be. Last year, the only show I watched religiously was Once Upon a Time (I know, I'm embarrassed for myself), which experimented with the split schedule/long hiatus--and while the almost-three-month mid-season break was killer, it was amazing how nice it was to just know you were getting 11 episodes straight and didn't have to check the tv guide every week to know whether the show was new, a repeat, or preempted.

PoI is preempted on 3/31 for some miniseries (apparently Tues/Wed nights that week are affected). Ep. 19 will either air on 4/7 or 4/14. For selfish reasons, I would like to see CBS air Ep. 19 on 4/14 so that its ratings for that episode don't go to the crapper. The way PoI's ratings have gone this season, if CBS airs Ep. 19 on 4/7, PoI will go down to series lows (possibly a 1.2). Of course, Justified's series finale airs on 4/14 so it's not a slam dunk that PoI will come out smelling like roses on 4/14 either.

 

CBS should use The Good Wife scheduling for Person of Interest next season. In a 22 episode year, they can air 9 episodes in the fall, 2 episodes in January and then 11 episodes beginning last week of February/first week of March to end in the 2nd week of May. The 2 episodes in January are a must from a ratings perspective. Most of CBS's shows have gone up in January this season (some to series/season highs) and in all of 4 seasons so far, some of PoI's best ratings have come from January.

 

Highest ratings from January for PoI

Season 1 - Series high at the time

Season 2 - Season high/series high (tied all-time)

Season 3 - Season average

Season 4 - Close to season highs

 

If the worst that PoI can do is bank its seasonal average on those episodes in January, that is a pretty darn good month. Also, the other 3 seasons have seen the show hit close to season highs or were at or are season/series highs. I would say this setup is better than having 9 episodes air in the fall and 13 in springtime because ratings are usually lower after January for a returning CBS drama.

Edited by ppl
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Just Here

Just Here

Why are they airing a rerun between 4X20 and 4X21?!?  Also, wish we had 23 episodes like last season rather than 22.

 

May sweeps run April 23rd to May 20th this year (PDF file), so an extra repeat would allow two new episodes during the sweeps period.  But, if it's any consolation, it looks like NCIS and NCIS:NO are alse repeats on April 21st (based on TheFutonCritic's schedule).

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Gigi43

Gigi43

(edited)

Those numbers make me sad. But I can't be too surprised given CBS' annoying scheduling. I hate the pacing of the new vs reruns/none this year. I don't know if it's actually worse than the past or if its just seeming that way. I'd also rather have a steady break of reruns, followed by steady new ones than this one new, two not, two new, whatever they're doing. Breaking up the "trilogy" was especially bad, and now not even giving the last three a solid run? Terrible.

Edited by Gigi43
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stealinghome

stealinghome

(edited)

Ugh, it's like CBS is TRYING to sabotage this show. Next week (4/21), it looks like there will NOT be a repeat--instead, CSI: Cyber is running in PoI's timeslot.

 

As ppl pointed out a while ago, the show has not done well coming off preemptions this season (and Search and Destroy continued that trend, tying the series low coming off of yet another preemption), so I think 4x21 is going to score lower than many of us would like. Boo, CBS. Boo.

 

 

ETA: PoI scored a 1.5 last night. Nice rebound from last week--it's amazing what stringing a few episodes together actually does for the show!--on a night than even NCIS only got a 2.0. And up against the series finale of Justified to boot (I imagine there's some audience crossover).

Edited by stealinghome
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Netfoot

Netfoot

Unless I am miscounting, there have been seven preemptions (good word, stealinghome) this season.  Thirty-three weeks to show twenty-two episodes.  Why not stop airing the show weekly, and broadcast  every fortnight?  That way I can forget, and miss two episodes out of three, and pretty soon I won't know WTF is going on, and stop watching entirely!  The advantage being that if nobody's watching, they can dramatically reduce production values, and save a whole load of money!

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ppl

ppl

(edited)

Unless I am miscounting, there have been seven preemptions (good word, stealinghome) this season.  Thirty-three weeks to show twenty-two episodes.  Why not stop airing the show weekly, and broadcast  every fortnight?  That way I can forget, and miss two episodes out of three, and pretty soon I won't know WTF is going on, and stop watching entirely!  The advantage being that if nobody's watching, they can dramatically reduce production values, and save a whole load of money!

You're right. 7 preemptions so far (I personally don't count Christmas break as a preemption because every show goes on break during that period) + 1 more upcoming with 4x21. Congratulations CBS. You have preempted a PoI episode/repeat 8 times this season, more than 1/3 of its episode order and more than any other show on CBS this season.

 

The indifference that they've shown this show this season is inexcusable. Multiple scheduling mistakes combined with lack of aired support due to presidential addresses, annual specials, syndication owned series repeats have compounded PoI's ratings woes. It is annoying and dumb that they aired dual CSI episodes in PoI's slot when they could have aired it in any other time slot. PoI has a set audience and it needs a string of episodes to maintain its momentum. How many times have we seen this season where it has gotten a 1.6 or 1.7 with its last episode before a break and then it returns below a 1.5? Frankly, CBS should have just doubled up on the CSI episodes on their regularly scheduled nights. It is already bad enough that a serialized show like PoI is in the toughest 10 PM slot and endures multiple annual interruptions throughout the season and then it has to deal with network interference because of 2 CSI series? It is idiotic that they would sacrifice higher ratings of their regularly scheduled program for shows that are getting lower ratings. How many PoI repeats of season 4 has CBS shown this season? Only 2. At this rate, Person of Interest will go off the air before they even air the beginning of the midseason trilogy.

 

PoI should be applauded for its ratings this season. #2 10 PM drama on CBS and running within a tenth of NCIS LA in the demo average this season. If they are so concerned about this time slot, then maybe it is time for them to move a procedural back to this night so that it can handle these multiple interruptions better. Maybe then CBS will bother to schedule it better than what they have done to PoI this season.

Edited by ppl
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stealinghome

stealinghome

Truth. I don't know why CBS moved it (I mean, I do, but it still sucks)--it was killing it in the Thursday slot, and PoI just feels like a Thursday show, you know? A great note to go into Friday on. It's fine on Tuesday but Thursday suits it.

 

And just look at the difference in lead-in between the seasons:

S1: 3.27

S2: 3.80 (!)

S3: 2.44

S4: 2.13 (likely will finish lower based on NCIS:NO's ratings since February)

 

Killer.

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Bort

Bort

CBS is notorious for violating the "If it Ain't Broke, DON'T Fix it!" rule. (bold emphasis mine).

They go by the lesser known (yet often used) motto of "If it ain't broke, FIX IT TIL IT IS!"

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