Ratings and Scheduling: Hail to the Gods

[Sasha]

I can understand the median age for Supergirl being older since it's the only show on CBS and that station appeals to older, but I'm surprised that Arrow and Flash have a median age of 43 and 42 respectively even though they are on the CW.  Are younger people not watching TV, and watching on their tablets etc instead?

It doesn't surprise me. My son, 24, and most of his friends don't pay for cable. They watch Netflix, Amazon and HBO GO. They binge watch everything except GoT. I've tried to get him to watch Arrow or The Flash but he prefers Daredevil. In fact his group of friends are kind of tv snobs and the CW isn't up to their standards. At least he is excited about the new X-files or I'd have to stop letting him use my Netflix and HBO accounts.

[writersblock51]

It doesn't surprise me. My son, 24, and most of his friends don't pay for cable. They watch Netflix, Amazon and HBO GO. They binge watch everything except GoT. I've tried to get him to watch Arrow or The Flash but he prefers Daredevil. In fact his group of friends are kind of tv snobs and the CW isn't up to their standards. At least he is excited about the new X-files or I'd have to stop letting him use my Netflix and HBO accounts.

 

This is my experience with my oldest (25, living with a roommate, on a budget) as well.  They don't have cable but they do have internet, so Netflix, Amazon Prime (she uses our accounts for viewing on those) and various network's websites.  The only CW show I could take her into was iZombie and only because of the Veronica Mars (our favorite show to watch together) connection.  She tried Arrow ("gorgeous cast for the most part," "typical CW acting") and only got through 5 episodes of S1.  Meanwhile, she's watched Daredevil twice and can't wait for Jessica Jones.  She was never a fan of Gossip Girl. even with Kristin Bell doing the narration.

 

Even my 13 year old has given up on Arrow.  I have 2 friends who still watch out of the 7 I'd recruited.  I want the show to do well and it seems like it is.  That's great.  But, personally, I'm running out of friends/family to talk about it with.

[TrueMyth]

I can understand the median age for Supergirl being older since it's the only show on CBS and that station appeals to older, but I'm surprised that Arrow and Flash have a median age of 43 and 42 respectively even though they are on the CW.  Are younger people not watching TV, and watching on their tablets etc instead?

The caption does say "Percentage of adult viewership among men and women," so we might assume the stats only looked at viewers 18 and older.  While the early 40s may still be older than we'd expect... eh.

 

I can also see the younger viewers different modes of viewing the show potentially skewing the results.  If the ratings are pulled from broadcast Neilson only, for example, older viewers will be counted more than younger viewers who opt for Netflix, Amazon, or other means.

[Morrigan2575]

Yeah, iZombie and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend are 13 eps, so both ending around the same time.

And I think ANTM is ending in December, so those are the 3 slots for the new shows.

 

That makes a lot more sense. I thought iZombie got an 18 episode pickup for this year and I figured Crazy Ex Girlfriend only got the 13 episode order and giving the ratings I didn't think there would be a back 9 pickup.

ANTM also got canceled (IIRC) so there goes the 3 slots for Spring.  Although, I don't know when it'll happen.  I think last year they held their mid-season premieres until March

[Morena]

Felicity, Olicity and Arrow all trended

 

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTlE9lyUsAAGK7H.jpg

 

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTlE9l1U8AA5B1D.jpg

[EmilyBettFan]

That's awesome!

[dtissagirl]

Rudimentary social media stats: the graph for comparing #arrow and #olicity in the past 30 days took an eeeenteresting turn yesterday [bonus unhashtagged "felicity" because I can't leave the last box empty LEAVE ME TO MY OCD]:

 

 

http://topsy.com/analytics?q1=%23arrow&q2=%23olicity&q3=felicity&via=Topsy

 

That's the hashtag to trend every week, O/F folks. It really really is.

[EmilyBettFan]

It was amazing to see those trend!

[EmilyBettFan]

Apparently got 1.1 with minimal promo and no Constantine. So yeah amazing for Olicity, OTA and just shows that they do have a fanbase. Which just proves again that Felicity and Oliver are a powerhouse together. Diggle is the man.

[Morrigan2575]

Was that a 1.1 in the Top 25 or in the 18-49A?  I haven't seen the 18-49A demo posted yet but I know if scored a 1.1. in the Top 25 and had the same HH ratings as last week.

[Chasity]

It was a 1.1 in the Top 25

[tv echo]

Arrow got a 0.9 in the 18-49 demo and a 2.28 in viewers in early overnight ratings.

 

Ratings News - 12th November 2015
Posted by DarkUFO at Thursday, November 12, 2015

http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/11/ratings-news-12th-november-2015.html

[Morrigan2575]

Well, if it doesn't adjust up it kind of proves that Constaine brought in the viewers last week since

 

404 - 0.9

405 - 1.1

406 - 0.9

 

Incidentally 306 scored a 0.9 in the demo as well after following a 1.1 in the demo for 305 (The Felicity Smoak episode).  Maybe there's something about this week that Arrow fans don't watch LOL

[quarks]

Nielsen Twitter ratings for 406.  Arrow ranked 4 (behind Empire, American Horror Story: Hotel, and The Voice) and as always NBA basketball beat everyone, although Arrow did do better than two college football games.

 

Last week (episode 405):

 

Unique audience (000): 624
Impressions (000): 2646
Unique authors (000): 13
Tweets (000): 66

 

This week (episode 406):

 

Unique audience (000): 546
Impressions (000): 2002
Unique authors (000): 10
Tweets (000): 49

 

So down across the board. Possibly because Constantine generated a lot of tweets in episode 405, or because 406 didn't feature any major twist - the sort of thing that in the past has generated a lot of tweets (think episode 309), or a continued response of "meh" to Ray Palmer, or all or none of these.

[looptab]

Are there any hopes it adjusts up? Also wow, the viewership is really low. Pity :/

Edited November 12, 2015 by looptab

[Ann Mack]

Are there any hopes it adjustes up? Also wow, the viewership is really low. Pity :/

 

Any one think some fans were just being pissy and didn't tune in because the focus on Oliver and Felicity? Overall yes the viewership was down for this episode but I don't feel like it got as much promotion as the Constantine one did. But yeah the previous 2 episodes had like 4x05 1.1/2.6M; 4x04 1.0/2.8M so yeah a 0.9/2.2M is somewhat lower but not bad, hopefully it will adjust up though!

[NumberCruncher]

I hope it adjusts up as well mostly because as far as I'm concerned S4 should be kicking S3's ratings in the ass.  The show is miles better than it was last year in every way--better villain, better dialogue, less dark angst, less OOC moments.  I do find it curious that this episode was sold as a big Ray returns moment (again setting up LoT) and I just wonder if the audience just never warmed to him as much as TPTB think and simply did not care.  Clearly the audience did want to see Constantine last week, but Ray?  I'm not so sure.  Then again, a 0.9 is hardly unusual for this show, so maybe there will just be a big adjustment this afternoon and it will all be a moot point.

Any one think some fans were just being pissy and didn't tune in because the focus on Oliver and Felicity? Overall yes the viewership was down for this episode but I don't feel like it got as much promotion as the Constantine one did. But yeah the previous 2 episodes had like 4x05 1.1/2.6M; 4x04 1.0/2.8M so yeah a 0.9/2.2M is somewhat lower but not bad, hopefully it will adjust up though!

 

Honestly I don't know how they would come to the conclusion going in that it was an Olicity episode.  All of the big promotion was centered around rescuing Ray, not Oliver and Felicity.

[Morrigan2575]

Any one think some fans were just being pissy and didn't tune in because the focus on Oliver and Felicity? Overall yes the viewership was down for this episode but I don't feel like it got as much promotion as the Constantine one did. But yeah the previous 2 episodes had like 4x05 1.1/2.6M; 4x04 1.0/2.8M so yeah a 0.9/2.2M is somewhat lower but not bad, hopefully it will adjust up though!

i checked both spoiler tv and tvbythenumbers and 404 scored a 0.9 in the final ratings

[Ann Mack]

i checked both spoiler tv and tvbythenumbers and 404 scored a 0.9 in the final ratings

I looked at the Live + same day: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/11/03/tv-ratings-wednesday-supernatural-rebounds-world-series-stays-strong/

Edited November 12, 2015 by Ann Mack

[Starfish35]

That's the preliminary ratings though. I think it was adjusted down that week.

http://www.spottedratings.com/2015/10/spotvault-arrow-cw-2015-16-ratings.html?m=1

[JJ928]

Any one think some fans were just being pissy and didn't tune in because the focus on Oliver and Felicity? Overall yes the viewership was down for this episode but I don't feel like it got as much promotion as the Constantine one did. But yeah the previous 2 episodes had like 4x05 1.1/2.6M; 4x04 1.0/2.8M so yeah a 0.9/2.2M is somewhat lower but not bad, hopefully it will adjust up though!

I don't think so. I was iffy about this episode after seeing the TV promo & episodes stills, I thought this was going to be Ray heavy. It wasn't until yesterday, that I decided this would be a live viewing for me, due to the clips released on twitter. 

I think this up and down is just normal for the show. I do know that there was severe weather in the midwest and a lot of people lost power. So that could maybe have an affect on ratings. I hope the ratings adjust up as well, I was very pleasantly surprised at this episode. I went in expecting heavy Ray & Lance family drama.

[Morrigan2575]

That's the preliminary ratings though. I think it was adjusted down that week.

http://www.spottedratings.com/2015/10/spotvault-arrow-cw-2015-16-ratings.html?m=1

Cool, I'm not crazy...not about this anyway  

 

Any one think some fans were just being pissy and didn't tune in because the focus on Oliver and Felicity? Overall yes the viewership was down for this episode but I don't feel like it got as much promotion as the Constantine one did. But yeah the previous 2 episodes had like 4x05 1.1/2.6M; 4x04 1.0/2.8M so yeah a 0.9/2.2M is somewhat lower but not bad, hopefully it will adjust up though!

 

I think people place way too much importance on shipper groups and characters fans and that never pans out in ratings, IMO.

 

I have no idea why it was down, other than the 18-34 demo was very low.  For all I know it's because yesterday was Veterans day and people were off partying.   

Edited November 12, 2015 by Morrigan2575

[lemotomato]

Final ratings for 404 ended up adjusting down from the initial overnight report.

[Starfish35]

No. I finally found the TVbytheNumbers post with the finals. It was adjusted down.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/11/04/wednesday-final-ratings-supernatural-adjusts-down-the-middle-and-the-goldbergs-adjust-up/

[tarotx]

Why was the Voice on last night? Isn't Laura usually on Wednesday and The Voice Monday or Tuesday? Or am I not paying enough attention?

[Ann Mack]

Well Arrow is staying consistently within the 0.9-1.1 range. I think as long as the demo holds they will continue to do fine. I wonder if some viewers left after S3 some times one bad season can cause the viewership to go down because fans move on and just don't return. But again that may not be the reason at all. Season 4 is IMO doing a much better job at scripts, acting and some continuity (minus the whole Quentin Lance being there for Thea & Oliver retcon). So overall I am pleasantly surprised with season 4.

[apinknightmare]

Why was the Voice on last night? Isn't Laura usually on Wednesday and The Voice Monday or Tuesday? Or am I not paying enough attention?

The Voice is usually on Mondays and Tuesdays. I don't watch, so I'm not sure why it was on last night.

[Morrigan2575]

I don't think so. I was iffy about this episode after seeing the TV promo & episodes stills, I thought this was going to be Ray heavy. It wasn't until yesterday, that I decided this would be a live viewing for me, due to the clips released on twitter. 

I think this up and down is just normal for the show. I do know that there was severe weather in the midwest and a lot of people lost power. So that could maybe have an affect on ratings. I hope the ratings adjust up as well, I was very pleasantly surprised at this episode. I went in expecting heavy Ray & Lance family drama.

Everybody Hates Ray?  I think you can get quite a few people from this forum on board that train.  LOL

 

Actually if people did tune out because of Ray (hypothetically) that could damage LoT

[Starfish35]

It is always hard to say why episodes go up or down. Looking at the trend though, I would guess (assuming no adjustments) that it got a 0.2 bump from Constantine and then went back to normal.

[Guest]

No. I finally found the TVbytheNumbers post with the finals. It was adjusted down.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/11/04/wednesday-final-ratings-supernatural-adjusts-down-the-middle-and-the-goldbergs-adjust-up/

 

Do you mean 406 was adjusted down?

 

Edit: Sorry, didn't read the link. It's 404.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Guest

[lemotomato]

I wouldn't worry too much about the ratings. 0.9 is what they got before Constantine, so that just means the new people that tuned in didn't come back (Not that I can blame them, 405 wasn't really the best episode to introduce people to Arrow.) Ratings are a smidgen better than season 3, which is all TPTB can ask for at this point in a series run. You're not going to gain much of an audience by season 4, but as long as you're not losing people, that's fine.

[NumberCruncher]

It is always hard to say why episodes go up or down. Looking at the trend though, I would guess (assuming no adjustments) that it got a 0.2 bump from Constantine and then went back to normal.

 

Yeah, I would tend to agree with this more than anything.  Most of the episodes do hover anywhere between 0.9 and 1.1, depending on the week.  I think the 0.2 jump last week probably set everyone's expectations into high gear when they should have realized part of it was due to the one-episode-only Constantine bump.

[apinknightmare]

Isn't the drop in viewers what people were worrying about? Not necessarily the demo?

[Guest]

Yeah, the demo is holding which is good but the drop in viewers wasn't great.

 

When in doubt, blame Ray. Blame Ray for everything. This was advertised as his episode.

[AyChihuahua]

Everybody Hates Ray?  I think you can get quite a few people from this forum on board that train.  LOL

 

Actually if people did tune out because of Ray (hypothetically) that could damage LoT

The Cane Toad is 100% of the reason I will never watch LoT, despite loving several of the characters and being intrigued by the premise.

[Morrigan2575]

Isn't the drop in viewers what people were worrying about? Not necessarily the demo?

i never pay attention to the viewers, i only look at the demo.  In the end, that's all that really matters. 

[Primal Slayer]

So much for Laurel driving viewers away. But in all seriousness, they will b probably rebound next week.

[apinknightmare]

So much for Laurel driving viewers away. But in all seriousness, they will b probably rebound next week.

Well, an argument could be made that the whole resurrection arc turned people off and they decided not to tune in to see more of it. Or maybe no one wanted to watch anything to do with Ray. Maybe the hint at Olicity angst in the summary turned people off.

Too bad there's no way of knowing.

Edited November 12, 2015 by apinknightmare

[dtissagirl]

Pre-social media, I was told over and over again that the previous episode informed the audience of the current one more than anything else -- how it ended, what was in the promo showed afterwards, etc. I do wonder how much of that still holds true.

 

...and how much of the drop in viewers was simply surprise The Voice on a Wednesday eating up the share because The Voice.

[Chaser]

Nielsen Twitter ratings for 406.  Arrow ranked 4 (behind Empire, American Horror Story: Hotel, and The Voice) and as always NBA basketball beat everyone, although Arrow did do better than two college football games.

 

Last week (episode 405):

 

Unique audience (000): 624

Impressions (000): 2646

Unique authors (000): 13

Tweets (000): 66

 

This week (episode 406):

 

Unique audience (000): 546

Impressions (000): 2002

Unique authors (000): 10

Tweets (000): 49

 

So down across the board. Possibly because Constantine generated a lot of tweets in episode 405, or because 406 didn't feature any major twist - the sort of thing that in the past has generated a lot of tweets (think episode 309), or a continued response of "meh" to Ray Palmer, or all or none of these.

How do they compare to 4x04? I feel like Constantine is an outlier.

 

I'm more curious about the Live+ totals. I want to see if there is a bigger bump.

 

The general promo was not an accurate reflection of the episode so it's difficult to tell anything. The previous episode may have been nicely reviewed due to Constantine but fans were shredding the Laurel and Sara part. And that was one part that was on display in the promos for this episode.

[apinknightmare]

Yeah, I'd never try to guess why someone stopped watching, or decided to tune in one week and not another. It's a pointless argument to make, because there's no way to know.

I'm a die-hard viewer of Arrow. I haven't ever missed a live broadcast (sad, I know), and the only ep I ever considered not watching live because of a storyline was the first ep back from winter break last year, because I really hated that Oliver's "dead" storyline.

I'm a casual viewer of The Flash, and I don't choose to tune in based on whatever's happening that week, just whether or not I'm home or in the mood to watch it. So, I've missed the past two eps, but not because of anything that was happening in the show. Next week's ep doesn't seem all that interesting to me, but if I'm home and in the mood, I'll watch it.

[GreatAtBoats]

How do they compare to 4x04? I feel like Constantine is an outlier.

I'm more curious about the Live+ totals. I want to see if there is a bigger bump.

The general promo was not an accurate reflection of the episode so it's difficult to tell anything. The previous episode may have been nicely reviewed due to Constantine but fans were shredding the Laurel and Sara part. And that was one part that was on display in the promos for this episode.

They barely featured in the main US promo, which is the only one that most people would see.

[TwistedandBored]

Well, one episode had more action and Constantine whose fans have been hoping would kickstart a CW spinoff for him, and the other episode was a filler. Gee, I wonder which episode would have a higher ratings? 

[Morrigan2575]

Constantine Brought the ratings!  Which is lovely for him because i loved the show.  Sadly, i don't think there's any hope of getting a Constantine show back on the air.  However, it might give the EPs the idea of making Constantine a recurring character in the Flarrow universe.  I wouldn't mind seeing him show up on Flash or LoT

[Princess Vanellope]

So just for research, I re-watched the promo for 406. It heavily features Ray, a few blips of Felicity talking to Ray, and some action sequences with Sara, as well as a line from Laurel. I personally don't think the episode was at all what was advertised in the promo, which is par for the course with Arrow.

I will say that people don't watch for such a wide variety of reasons that it's nearly impossible to pinpoint why. Just remember that the network focuses mostly on the demo. The drop in viewers will worry them far less than a huge drop in demo would. Demo=money. Plain and simple. So as long as the demo is steady, I don't think they are going to start worrying much.

[Chaser]

I can't link here but it looks like the demo stays the same and viewers are adjusted to 2.3. So not much.

Disappointed by that.

[lemotomato]

Apparently The Voice episode last night was the season finale. That could explain why the audience numbers were down but the demo stayed the same.

[tarotx]

At least it didn't adjust down.

There was very little talk about this episode in the media. At least The Flash crossover event will be advertised. But next week looks like a vital episode for the season Arc. So I hope people watch.

The badder ratings do make me worried about LOT. I know Ray is unpopular even if this week's drop in over all ratings isn't about him. Or Sara.

[kismet]

I feel like Constantine show brought in Constantine viewers because they wanted to see Constantine. I never had any great hope that those viewers would stay around. I doubt TPTB had high hopes either. I mean they probably hoped there would be some sustained bump, but they were prepared for it not to happen. And who's to say some of those people might not tune in later on-demand or other viewing sites. It might have peaked their interest, but not enough to tune in next week. People might want to binge the whole series first to catch up.

 

So long as the numbers stay stable, I think the show is in good shape. It's not going to build a new audience all the sudden in s4 because of 1 episode, at least not with a character from a cancelled show. Perhaps they'll gain more people in the crossovers, because there is a sustained relationship.

[lemotomato]

The ratings aren't bad, though? They're down from last week, yes, but last week benefitted from Constantine viewers. The demo is the same as 404 and the same as the corresponding episode from last season.