Stats Spotlight - Scandal Series High, Grey's Anatomy Most Watched in 15 Episodes + Third Quarter Results

(Check out my website, www.seriesmonitor.com) 

Great news for Grey's Anatomy and Scandal fans!

Last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy earned a 3.0 rating and 9.39 million viewers. This mightn't sound overly spectacular, but in fact it's Grey's Aantomy's most viewed episode from the last 15 episodes, making it the fourth most viewed episode this season, behind the first three episodes, which hold the number 1, 2, and 3 spots respectively.

In those last 15 episodes, 6 of them have earned a rating higher than 3.0, indicating last night's episode was mid range in terms of ratings, but it did better than normal with the total audience

Following Grey's Anatomy at 10pm was Scandal. After a 4 week break, the viewers turned out in droves, with last night's episode earning a 2.7 rating and 8.51 million viewers. The two episodes prior to last night's episode also earned 2.7 ratings, but last night's episode, in addition to earning that 2.7 rating, is the most watched episode in series history, eclipsing the previous series audience record of 8.37 million viewers set back on Jan 10. This is an excellent result considering last night's episode aired following a 4 week break. The guest appearance of Lisa Edelstein may have also played a part in lifting the numbers up last night

Back to Grey's Anatomy again, with the results of the third quarter of this season (episodes 13-18). To recap, the first quarter of this season (episodes 1-6) averaged a 3.52 rating and 9.85 million viewers. The second quarter (episodes 7-12) averaged a 3.03 rating and 8.90 million viewers. The third quarter, ending with last night's episode, averaged a 2.90 rating and 8.79 million viewers. With the rate at which the ratings and audience was dropping away in the first half of this season, I wasn't expecting there to be such a small difference between the second and third quarters of this season.

You can see more quarter analysis for Grey's Anatomy on my website, www.seriesmonitor.com to see how this season stacks up over the previous seasons

Thanks for reading. Share your thoughts about the performance of both shows in the comments below
Jimmy