It’s depressing to look at the Live + Same Day ratings these days as the linear play decline continues. There have been a few bright spots in this week of premieres, and they have one thing in common – they’re part of established procedural drama franchises or competitive reality clips.
While NFL football remains the biggest draw on broadcast television, with Monday night soccer on ABC, topping the rest of the field with 12.9 million viewers in Live+Same Day to lead Premiere Week in four days, the next three spots in the most-watched programs are held by Dick Wolf FBI (6.8 million), Chicago fire (6.7 million) and Chicago Med (6.6 million).
Beyond the NFL (NBC’s Footprint on Sunday evening expected to jump to the top of the rankings by the end of the week) and reality stars The voice and survivorthe 17 most-watched programs for the first four nights of Premiere Week consisted of all three FBI and Chicago Series, Law and order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime as well as the two Monday NCIS dramas and 9-1-1. comedy from CBS the neighborhood came in at #18, followed by the law & order Revival at number 19 to round out the proceedings dominance.
All dramas either finished first in their viewing period or were topped only by NFL Football and/or The voice. It’s worth noting given reports of NBC looking at a move to return the 10 p.m. hour to affiliates Chicago P.Dwhich airs at 10:00 p.m. was a top 10 show in terms of total viewership.
Classic (cops, doctors, lawyers) procedures, already prized for their great replayability, have emerged as a top genre in television, with familiarity being a factor, leading to a push to expand existing franchises with the most recent new ones extend NCIS and law & order Additions and what is to come The beginner Offshoot and planned The good doctor spin off. (ABC’s Grey’s anatomy and train station 19 Combo hasn’t premiered yet, but is expected to rank along with in the top tier of most watched series The good doctor and The beginner.)
While the goal of conglomerates these days is to build assets that only start airing before they get stretched out with streaming, linear valuations are still important as advertisers pay premiums for them. Given the continued strength of procedural methods, we’ll likely see more of them.
Because of that long tail, it’s too early to judge the performance of a serial drama like Fox’s new country music soap monarch but the significant drop in audience from episode one to episode two is worrying. NBC’s new high-concept process, a quantum leap Sequel, was OK in its premiere but didn’t show the immediate outburst of potential prequels in the post-Voice Monday slot like The Black List, Blindspot and manifest have shown.