It's been a tough last few weeks for ABC's Sunday night duo, Once Upon a Time and Revenge
The ratings for Sunday's episodes of both shows once again weren't too flash. Once Upon A Time at 8pm earned a series low 2.2 18-49 rating, and 7.08 million viewers, while Revenge at 9pm Also earned a series low 1.4 18-49 rating and just 5.20 million viewers
Unfortunately, the odds were firmly stacked against both shows, with Sunday also being the night the annual Grammy Awards aired on CBS, hauling in a significant chunk of the 18-49 demographic, with a 10.1 rating and 28.37 million viewers. In addition, both shows were returning from a 3 week hiatus - the last original episodes for both shows aired on January 20.
On that night, both shows posted series low numbers as well. Once Upon a Time earned a 2.4 rating and 7.68 million viewers, while Revenge earned a 1.7 rating and 5.75 million viewers. Again, CBS spoiled the party, with a NFL playoff game earning a whopping 16.8 rating and 47.71 million viewers
A week earlier on January 13, Once Upon a Time earned a 2.8 rating ad 8.24 million viewers, while Revenge earned a 2.0 rating and 6.17 million viewers. At the time, the ratings numbers for both shows were bordering series lows, while the audience numbers were indeed series lows. Once again, there was a dominating show on another network - this time it was NBC - who were airing the Golden Globe Awards, which earned a 6.4 rating and 19.69 million viewers
It's fair enough to say that both shows have been up against unbeatable competition in their timeslots for the last 3 weeks, but this excuse only goes so far. This is because both Once Upon a Time and Revenge have continued their downward ratings slide on viewers' DVRs in addition to live viewing.
Lets take a look at Once Upon A Time's Live + 7 DVR ratings and audience graphs for a closer look. The red line is Once Upon a Time's Live + Same Day (L+SD) rating/audience, and the green line is the Live + 7 (L+7) ratings/audience
For the 12 episodes that L+7 data is available for, an average of 2.958 million people timeshift Once Upon a Time on a DVR in the week following an episode. The 18-49 rating increases by an average of 1.35 ratings points. Looking at the graphs above, you can see that the drop in L+SD ratings and audiences is almost identical. This goes some way to proving that despite the tough scheduling Once Upon a Time faces, the ratings and audience are still dropping. If the show had a loyal audience who would DVR the show while watching something else, then you'd expect to see the green lines on both graphs level off while the red line continued downwards. This would give you a reasonably precise number of dedicated fans who would watch the show regardless of what else was on that night
For the 13 episodes to date, Once Upon a Time is averaging a 3.07 L+SD rating and 9.18 million L+SD viewers. L+7 ratings increase those numbers to a 4.49 rating and 12.310 million viewers from the 12 episodes L+7 data is available for. Last season saw Once Upon a Time averaging a 3.28 L+SD rating and 9.90 million viewers. I'm yet to gather L+7 data for last season. You can check out all the L+SD and L+7 data and graphs for season 2 of Once Upon a Time here on my website
Now let's take a look at Revenge's graphs for this season. As with Once Upon a Time, the red line is Revenge's Live + Same Day (L+SD) rating/audience, and the green line is the Live + 7 (L+7) ratings/audience. The blue line is Once Upon a Time's ratings/audience
The last 3 episodes have dropped a total of 1 L+SD ratings point since the last time there was a ratings increase. A little more than 2.5 million L+SD viewers have been lost, again since the last time there was an audience increase. As I said earlier about Once Upon a Time, if there was a loyal audience who would DVR Revenge while watching the football or the Grammys, then you'd expect to see the green line level off while the red line continues downward. That clearly hasn't happened yet, with the green line maintaining a steady rate of descent throughout the duration of this season
Revenge is averaging a 2.40 L+SD rating, and 7.52 million L+SD viewers this season. For the 12 episodes data is available for, DVR viewing pushes the L+7 rating to 3.68, and the L+7 audience to 9.18 million. This is an average increase in ratings of 1.21, and 2.925 million viewers - figures that are pretty similar to Revenge's lead-in, Once Upon a Time, despite Revenge's lower viewership. Last season, in its different day and timeslot, Revenge was averaging a 2.46 L+SD rating and 7.82 million L+SD viewers, figures that - until this recent spate of series low numbers this season - were lower than this season's current averages I stated earlier
You can check out all the L+SD and L+7 data and graphs for season 2 of Revenge here on my website. The season comparison graphs on this page are also well worth a look
All in all, I think both Once Upon a Time and Revenge are doing well enough on averages to earn their third seasons from the ABC top brass, but it would throw a lot more doubt into the air if both shows earned further series lows next week. If Once Upon A Time earned a 2.0 rating next week, the average rating for the season would drop to 2.99 - down from 3.07. If Revenge saw a repeat of Sunday's 1.4 rating, its ratings average for the season would drop to 2.33 - down from 2.40. I'm sure no fans of either show would like to see that happen
What are your thoughts? What reasons do you think are impacting the ratings of Once Upon a Time and Revenge?? What's your solution to resolving the loss in viewers??
Have your say in the comments below
Thanks for reading. Check out my website, www.seriesmonitor.com for comprehensive ratings and analysis of many more shows
Jimmy
I'm really worried about both shows. Maybe they would work better on the different night? Whatever helps!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jimmy for this!
I'm pretty sure the ratings will be better this sunday. A lot of viewers saw the last episodes online because of the special events like SuperBowl and Grammys.
ReplyDeleteI think Revenge is definitely hitting a sophomore slump in terms of storytelling and because of that it is being reflected in the ratings as well. This initiative storyline for the first half of the season was just boring and drifted too far away from what the show originally was. Hopefully with the big death happening next week, viewers will return to see what happens.
ReplyDeleteits weird seeing both shows hit unusual lows but thats abcs own fault for airing both shows against heavy competition. im certain once upon a time will be renewed but i dont know about revenge maybe without competition it will shooot up to a 2.0 and once upon a time a 2.8 i would love to see both shows getting renewed. they shouldnve waited to air the new episodes in march without any breaks
ReplyDeleteGreat article! Good work!
ReplyDeleteI think, besides strong opposition, one of the main reasons for the decline in viewership for Once Upon A Time is the atrocious writing as of late. I see more and more people noticing this and I think it also reflects in the viewers.
The whole strong opposition argument can only go so far. Especially as the Walking Dead drew it's best rating yet even with that same strong opposition.