This post was originally written by SpoilerTV Contributor, TheSpoilerGirl.
I’ve been fascinated with TV Ratings for several years after wondering why some of my favourite TV shows were getting cancelled. So it was great that I stumbled on SpoilerTV and their detailed daily ratings, Full Tables and their excellent Cancellation/Renew Tables.
As a result I've tried to come up with my own formula/ratings to see how well a show is performing and after chatting with DarkUFO and he’s allowed me to make this a post on the site that I hope to keep updated fairly regularly, probably each Monday.
It will be interesting to see how closely this matches with the Official SpoilerTV Cancellation Chart and if it is more or less accurate.
I've tried to simplify the formula to come up with a “Score” for each broadcast show. The formula is basically calculated as follows
- The bulk of the “score” comes from the 18-49 Rating as this is where the bulk of the advertising money and hence profits for a show come from
- We also look at the total number of viewers and give shows with large numbers a better weighting
- Shows that are on Fridays get an increased weighting as these tend to have lower numbers
- Shows on the CW also get a weighting increase as it's a much smaller network than the big 4 (ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC)
- Shows which have 5 or more seasons get an increased weighting as they are likely to be in Syndication
Let’s look at some examples to show you what I mean.
Example 1
Show 1 on ABC has a 18-49 rating of 2.1 and has 10 Million viewers
Show 2 on ABC has a 18-49 rating of 2.1 and has 20 Million viewers
Show 2 will have a better “score” as it has more total viewers
Example 2
Show 1 on ABC has a 18-49 rating of 2.1 and has 10 Million viewers. It airs on Mondays
Show 2 on ABC has a 18-49 rating of 2.1 and has 10 Million viewers. It airs on Fridays
Show 2 will have a better “score” as it airs on Fridays
Example 3
Show 1 on ABC has a 18-49 rating of 0.9 and has 3 Million viewers.
Show 2 on CW has a 18-49 rating of 0.9 and has 3 Million viewers.
Show 2 will have a better “score” as it airs on The CW
Example 4
Show 1 on ABC has a 18-49 rating of 2.1 and has 10 Million viewers. This is a new show
Show 2 on ABC has a 18-49 rating of 2.1 and has 10 Million viewers. Show is in it’s 5th Season
Show 2 will have a better “score” as it been running longer
So here is the full table so far. Obviously shows with a low score are not doing very well and shows with a large score are doing very well and are more likely to be renewed.
Can't see the table? Check out our Troubleshooting Guide
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Hi. Great list! Bookmarking it! But just for correction: It's not 24, the show is called 24: Live Another Day. LAD may be building on the original series, but they are not the exact same series, same way CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Miami are not the same shows, but the second one builds on the first.
ReplyDeleteYep, we're using 24 to make it easy to process the data. If we get time we might try to fix it.
ReplyDeleteI can't see any of the charts(this one here or the Full Rating Tables...). Anybody who might know why? :S
ReplyDeleteNormally it's due to a corrupt Cookie. Try clearing out your Cookies.
ReplyDeleteThx! It worked well! :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome ;)
ReplyDeleteScrew it, I'm just gonna call it S9. :D
ReplyDeleteI can't see the whole chart on my tablet. When I try to move the gray bar, it just moves the whole thing. Any suggestions, or should I just forget about it?
ReplyDeleteIf yours is touch enabled you should be able to drag around inside the table to move up and down.
ReplyDeleteIt works fine when we tested it on Android and iOS phones, as well as Android Tablets and iPads etc.
Question. In example 1, why does the equal rated show on the same network get a higher score based on the fact that it has more total viewers? Total HH viewers are considered to be irrelevant for renewal/cancellation prediction purposes. Just curious as to why it's included as a factor in the formula.
ReplyDeleteGlad to help.
ReplyDeleteIt's only a small advantage and an advantage none the less. Let take an example.
Let say show A a has and 18-49 of 1.5 and and show B also has 1.5
Now lets say Show A has 5 Million Viewers and Show B 30 Million.
A network exec has to cancel either Show A or Show B.
They would cancel Show A due to the smaller viewing numbers. Show B has more potential in things like DVD sales etc.
So Show B gets a slightly better weighting.
Thanks for the reply. I never thought to factor in cross media potential as a factor. I was only basing my observation on a purely T.V. standpoint. Makes perfect sense now.
ReplyDeletewow a show with a 1.5 and 30 million viewers would be extremely old skewing :)
ReplyDeleteBitten?
ReplyDeleteAnything?
Bitten is not on a broadcast network.
ReplyDeleteYou can see the ratings for all shows in the ratings database www.stvplus.com
Hi if i may ask @DarkUFO what kind of spreadsheet you are using ? it has no borders as such can u tell me please
ReplyDeleteHi @Raj It's just a Google Docs Spreadsheet embedded as an iframe.
ReplyDeleteOh , but it appears different from your weekly charts where these sheets have borders.
ReplyDeleteYep, those are using a different embed code as we need to include scroll bars etc so people can move around the spreadsheet.
ReplyDeleteIt will be great if u can provide me with the embed code for this kind of sheet please
ReplyDeleteSure, you can see an example here
ReplyDeletehttp://pastebin.com/v4mtsTgr
Thanks a lot :)
ReplyDelete