Broad Ratings Slump Worries TV Execs
Dip in viewers stings nets prepping for May upfront
As networks ramp up ad dollar pitches for upfront next month, television executives are mulling over disturbingly low ratings for even the most popular shows like NBC's Heroes and ABC's Desperate Housewives.
Fox stalwarts American Idol and 24 raked in their worst numbers in years, USA Today reports.
Seems a perfect storm of items are to blame for the statistical drop in broadcast viewers. Some blame daylight-savings time's early arrival or increased DVR use, on top of other media like cable and the internet competing for viewers attention.
Specific to the programming itself, primetime serials like Lost and Ugly Betty—which in requiring viewers to keep track of storylines, do not lend as well to repeats—may lose viewers during long breaks between new episodes.
More daylight hours, of course, are likely to keep viewers outdoors longer, especially when repeats dominate the grid as much they had recently. DVR time-shifting, however, is reportedly responsible for much of the ratings drop.
DVR presence in Nielsen homes has more than tripled in the past year, with more than 17 percent of sample homes now using the recorders.
With Nielsen now measuring shows watched at airtime versus shows watched within seven days of first broadcast, the ratings drop recedes. "If you look at live plus seven-day viewing, those declines for several shows start to vanish," Fox Television's Preston Beckman told USA Today.
Though The Office posted a 10 percent conventional ratings drop, for example, its total viewership rose 2 percent when counting time-shifters.
Such adjustments may not alleviate the challenges facing nets headed into May upfront presentations, where great amounts of fall season advertsing is sold. No advertiser wants to pay for time-shifting viewers, who are largely thought to be skipping commercials. Whether or not Nielsen's forthcoming commercial viewer measurement solution (now in test mode) will help or hurt the networks cause remains to be seen.
For now, many just look forward to a fresh slate of May sweeps cliffhangers to turn this ratings dip around.
J. Bolden