Originally posted by robert: Lost would kill for those 15-20 million viewers that CBS gets for many of their show
Incorrect. Quite the opposite. CBS would gladly trade in those extra 3-8 million viewers for higher demos. Based on the averages from 2006-07, GA was able to charge $419k for ads while CSI was only able to charge about $248k -- despite CSI having higher total viewer averages. Why? Because GA kills CSI in demos. WaT: $190k. B&S: $182k. Criminal Minds: $121k. CSI: Miami: $180k. CSI: NY: $140k. The Unit: only $98k. Heroes: $296k. Bones: $130k. Look at the ratings from last season. All these are roughly proportional to DEMO ratings.
Now try to tell me again that demos don't matter more than total viewers. Oh wait... you can't.
And don't try to tell me it's about buzz because My Name is Earl was raking in $151k due to its young demos, despite having no more buzz.
Hear, hear.
The people who buy television time care about the number of people in each demo they're looking for who are in the audience for each show, not the number of total viewers. The only time total viewers comes into play is bragging rights, such as, when CBS starts yelling about being "Most Watched". Honestly? Nobody cares about that crap. Except CBS. And now FOX, since they're claiming the crown of most watched.
It's all about the benjamins. Whoever can charge the most, wins. And whoever has the highest demo number can charge the most.
How many people watch a show is crap? WOW. wow. wow. Maybe you forget a thing though. In order to calculate those demo numbers you're crazy about ACTUAL PEOPLE must watch TV
Originally posted by Chimera: Great posts NativeNYer. I think you picked a lull-time on this forum though -- it's pretty dead around this time, then picks up again later in the evening. But late mornings have the most number of folks on and most activity.
I look forward to seeing you around here more!
Thanks, Chimera. I read daily, been a long-time lurker, and post when I have something to say. The stuff about viewers chaps my hide quite a bit, because it's meaningless in the real world. That is, if one considers the real world (as it pertains to TV, anyway) to be what really counts--which is demo ratings. As anyone who works in television knows, households don't buy stuff, people do.
And, yeah, it's a shame that advertisers by and large write off anyone older than 50. And an 18 y/o is nothing like a 49 y/o, but programmers consider this group to be the Holy Grail. As my old buddy Bart McHugh used to say, "Them's the jokes, folks."
Facts are ugly things.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Native NYer,
Posts: 82 | Location: Los Angeles | Registered: 25 February 2008
It looks like you have a continuing conversarion with robert on the sbject above, but I have to go, so I'll check out the fun postings later on. Again, nice seeing you "out of lurk" NativeNYer!
Why must people compare Lost's ratings to season 1, and then trash the show? There has been massive audience erosion across all of the networks in the last 4 years. At this point, 11 million viewers is considered a hit. 10 years ago a series drawing 11 million would have been "on the bubble" - but not today. Look at CBS's Monday night line-up - back in 2000/2001, King of Queens and Yes Dear used to draw 15 million at 8pm, ELR draw 20 at 9pm and CSI Miami 20+ at 10pm. Look at the ratings now: massively deflated. The story is the same on almost every network in every timeslot.
So is ABC happy with 12.8 mill and a 5.4 in the demo? They're very happy. They're happy that last season's erosion didn't continue. The trick for the networks is going to be how to make money off of DVR+7, where Lost typically increases its audience 30% or more. And that percentage has been increasing week after week.
Ever download a Lost torrent? The day after it airs, there are tens of thousands of people trying to download the episode, and multiple torrents.
Lost remains a very popular show even if its overnights don't fully reflect that. And ABC makes a fortune on the show through product tie ins and DVD sales. The last DVD set sold what, 500k copies? At $40 bucks a pop, that's almost $20 million in revenue right there. Of course not all goes to ABC, but a significant portion does.
The way I understand it, it's not that advertisers pay nothing for viewers outside the target demographic. If there are two shows that have about the same demo numbers, but one has more viewers overall, the show with more overall viewers can make more in ad money.
To use a really bad analogy, viewers are like items in a scavenger hunt. Some items (viewers in the target demo) might be worth more points than others. But all the items on the list (or viewers watching your ads) count for something.
Originally posted by robert: Lost would kill for those 15-20 million viewers that CBS gets for many of their show
Incorrect. Quite the opposite. CBS would gladly trade in those extra 3-8 million viewers for higher demos. Based on the averages from 2006-07, GA was able to charge $419k for ads while CSI was only able to charge about $248k -- despite CSI having higher total viewer averages. Why? Because GA kills CSI in demos. WaT: $190k. B&S: $182k. Criminal Minds: $121k. CSI: Miami: $180k. CSI: NY: $140k. The Unit: only $98k. Heroes: $296k. Bones: $130k. Look at the ratings from last season. All these are roughly proportional to DEMO ratings.
Now try to tell me again that demos don't matter more than total viewers. Oh wait... you can't.
And don't try to tell me it's about buzz because My Name is Earl was raking in $151k due to its young demos, despite having no more buzz.
Hear, hear.
The people who buy television time care about the number of people in each demo they're looking for who are in the audience for each show, not the number of total viewers. The only time total viewers comes into play is bragging rights, such as, when CBS starts yelling about being "Most Watched". Honestly? Nobody cares about that crap. Except CBS. And now FOX, since they're claiming the crown of most watched.
It's all about the benjamins. Whoever can charge the most, wins. And whoever has the highest demo number can charge the most.
How many people watch a show is crap? WOW. wow. wow. Maybe you forget a thing though. In order to calculate those demo numbers you're crazy about ACTUAL PEOPLE must watch TV
Sorry, robert. But total viewers is a crap statistic. It's meaningless in the larger scheme of things. Counts only for bragging rights. Back in the '90s, when NBC was #1 by every measure you could think of, the best that CBS could come up was something along the lines of 'We Suck Less'. Um. Less Than What exactly? CBS always had tons and tons of viewers but we (full disclosure--I was working for NBC at the time) used to say their average age was 55 and over or shh, I think he's only asleep.
Ah, good times.
Posts: 82 | Location: Los Angeles | Registered: 25 February 2008
Originally posted by dumont: The WB is Back! Mr. Consoli of Mediaweek reports this afternoon that The WB is making an on-line comeback through a new website, wb.com, that will be devoted to the extensive WB library of shows.
No confirmation yet on whether Michigan J. Frog is due to stage his own comeback on the site.
No word either on whether CBS has a similar UPN site in the works for their legacy programming.
Here's to the return of Michigan J Frog, even if it is in online viewing only!
Sister Whoopi Helps MyNetworkTV Triumph Over The CW in Viewers
With the help of Miss Goldberg and Miss Maggi Smith in "SISTER ACT 2", MyNetworkTV took a decisive fifth place amongst the English networks last night, besting The CW combo of Smallville and Reaper in total viewers. The MyNetworkTV audience of 2.470m viewers was just a bit short of the network all-time high record reached January 1, 2008 with The World Magic Awards watched by 2.530m viewers.
For complete Medal count and winners, visit the NEW PIFC Daily Game Medal Site. There, you will view all-time winners, current medal standings and Daily Game milestones.
This is an impressive little victory. That a 10 year old movie had more viewers than Smallville and Reaper.
quote:
Originally posted by dumont: Sister Whoopi Helps MyNetworkTV Triumph Over The CW in Viewers
With the help of Miss Goldberg and Miss Maggi Smith in "SISTER ACT 2", MyNetworkTV took a decisive fifth place amongst the English networks last night, besting The CW combo of Smallville and Reaper in total viewers. The MyNetworkTV audience of 2.470m viewers was just a bit short of the network all-time high record reached January 1, 2008 with The World Magic Awards watched by 2.530m viewers.
For complete Medal count and winners, visit the NEW PIFC Daily Game Medal Site. There, you will view all-time winners, current medal standings and Daily Game milestones.
CW, well an improvement over last week, but below average in both hours.
More importantly Reaper's rerun is lower then its average (excluding the rerun on Christmas day) on Tuesday's. Thats a little disappointing. And its still lower then all SN repeats this year.
Originally posted by mswood: CW, well an improvement over last week, but below average in both hours.
More importantly Reaper's rerun is lower then its average (excluding the rerun on Christmas day) on Tuesday's. Thats a little disappointing. And its still lower then all SN repeats this year.
I have to say, the CW has done a good job airing repeats of SV and Reaper these past two weeks. Starting next week, a couple weeks of new eps so that should be alright considering Idol is out of the picture now.
Daily Game for 
