TV ratings

zeebre12 · 01-10-2021, 10:46 AM

Why are US TV ratings so poor? The US has 5 times the population of the UK yet ratings for the main 5 UK/US networks are similar? America's Got Talent/Chicago PD/NCIS are regarded as big popular mainstream shows yet only get ratings like top UK shows. You could say people just record them now and watch later but not Delayed Viewing Figures don't add much. It's said the US has a lot more channel and cable is more popular yet it's not like lots of programs are getting millions of viewers on cable either. You'd expect big US programs to get tens of millions of viewers when you compare the population to the UK?

Mateus Honrado · 01-10-2021, 06:39 PM

One word to explain why: Streaming.

Neil Jones · 01-10-2021, 06:57 PM

zeebre12 post_id=44190 time= user_id=1289 Wrote:Why are US TV ratings so poor? The US has 5 times the population of the UK yet ratings for the main 5 UK/US networks are similar? America's Got Talent/Chicago PD/NCIS are regarded as big popular mainstream shows yet only get ratings like top UK shows. You could say people just record them now and watch later but not Delayed Viewing Figures don't add much. It's said the US has a lot more channel and cable is more popular yet it's not like lots of programs are getting millions of viewers on cable either. You'd expect big US programs to get tens of millions of viewers when you compare the population to the UK?

Not uncommon across the whole TV board unfortunately,much more choice, more options, more ways of getting media... in the 1960s it was TV broadcast or nothing. Now you can watch TV on demand on the bus on your phone, why need to sit on a sofa waiting for a scheduled broadcast?

Newshound47 · 01-10-2021, 07:40 PM

Mateus Honrado post_id=44282 time=1633109994 user_id=992 Wrote:One word to explain why: Streaming.

There have been a fair bit lower than before the streaming era began.

And parts of America feel more socially conservative and less likely to be in to streaming than most of the UK

Mateus Honrado · 01-10-2021, 07:42 PM

Newshound47 post_id=44300 time= user_id=1854 Wrote:
Mateus Honrado post_id=44282 time=1633109994 user_id=992 Wrote:One word to explain why: Streaming.

There have been a fair bit lower than before the streaming era began.

So basically, ratings declined before the rise of streaming?

**dbl** · 01-10-2021, 08:54 PM

Mateus Honrado post_id=44301 time= user_id=992 Wrote:So basically, ratings declined before the rise of streaming?

Cable TV don't forget. The American TV landscape is notoriously competitive.

Brekkie · 01-10-2021, 09:02 PM

There has certainly been a big drop in the last couple of years as the number of streaming services exploded, and over the last decade cable has built a much stronger portfolio of original drama and programming rather than relying on syndication and movies, so even without streaming the audience was being spread thinner. Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead pretty much kicked started that trend and picked up ratings that rivaled those on the network.

Before that though US ratings have long appeared proportionally lower than those in the UK - though of course whilst we've historically generally had two channels attracting the highest ratings in the US the audience has been much more evenly split across four networks.

What I find quite interesting is the economies of advertising and how advertisers must be paying far more per viewer in the US than they do here.

Neil Jones · 01-10-2021, 09:16 PM

Brekkie post_id=44319 time= user_id=976 Wrote:What I find quite interesting is the economies of advertising and how advertisers must be paying far more per viewer in the US than they do here.

Well that and the fact they just generally have far more advertising per se in the States. That and all the product placement, the whole list of companies stuck on the end of programming... Think the American average is closer to 20 minutes per clock hour of advertising, which makes our 12 minutes look relatively minute.

JAS84 · 01-10-2021, 09:41 PM

List of companies stuck on the end of programming? What on Earth do you mean? That sounds like something Japan does, not America.

London Lite · 02-10-2021, 02:36 AM

America's tv market has largely been multi-channel for a lot longer than in the UK, so they're more used to having such a wide choice of programming and that was before streaming became mainstream.

TIGHazard · 02-10-2021, 09:03 AM

JAS84 post_id=44325 time= user_id=881 Wrote:List of companies stuck on the end of programming? What on Earth do you mean? That sounds like something Japan does, not America.

I think what is meant is during the credits where it says "promotion consideration by"

[Image: view-oprah-credits-disclosure.jpg]

JAS84 · 02-10-2021, 10:25 AM

I guess only factual programmes have that then? I've never seen such a credit on an American drama or comedy. That's basically saying those companies are sponsors or paid for product placement.

**dbl** · 02-10-2021, 10:48 AM

JAS84 post_id=44404 time= user_id=881 Wrote:I guess only factual programmes have that then? I've never seen such a credit on an American drama or comedy. That's basically saying those companies are sponsors or paid for product placement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neTqkJxl168
28 secs in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN8nr40zjyU
57 secs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWrMa3qVmHY
26 secs

So yeah, they do appear

Mateus Honrado · 02-10-2021, 09:04 PM

dbl post_id=44316 time= user_id=966 Wrote:
Mateus Honrado post_id=44301 time= user_id=992 Wrote:So basically, ratings declined before the rise of streaming?
Cable TV don't forget. The American TV landscape is notoriously competitive.

So, I see.

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