More interesting information in a report from MAGNA that includes lots of individual cable show TV ratings particularly ratings information for many shows our readers ask about including Mad Men, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sons of Anarchy, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Ghost Hunter, Sanctuary, Lincoln Heights, Somebodies, Sarah Silverman Show, Chocolate News, The Shield, Testees, Rita Rocks, Army Wives, My New BFF, Raising The Bar, The Starter Wife and Charm School.
Here are some highlights:
The cable networks have traditionally scheduled many of their strongest original series in the summer, when the regular broadcast season is finished. As audiences for these shows have grown larger and more consistent however, we have seen an increasing number fall and midseason berths.
The prognosis portion of our analysis for cable is a bit different than that of broadcast, because cable originals are much less likely to be pulled before the full number of ordered episodes air. Obviously, rating goals vary by network, and a even a relatively low-rated original series may perform better than repeat programming that fills the rest of the schedule.
Below are some highlights on original cable series that have been running this fall:
Teens are often a hard to reach audience, and other than CW (and perhaps the FOX animated shows) most broadcast programming isn’t really aimed at them. Cable offers a number of original shows that either target teens directly or at least appeal to them. Currently, there are several programs that have been strong among teens, including: Lincoln Heights on ABC Family, Star Wars: Clone Wars on Cartoon Network, Chocolate News on Comedy Central, and My New BFF on MTV.
FX continues to be one of the more prolific cable networks in terms of scripted orginal programming, and while both Dirt and The Riches were canceled after their abbreviated second seasons, new drama Sons of Anarchy has done welll with young adults and will return for a second run. The comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia seems to build audience every year and has already received an order for 39 additional episodes. Testees—the network’s latest comedy to be paired with Sunny—has not been keeping up ratings-wise so it’s future is uncertain. The Shield will end its run in this month, but Damages, Nip/Tuck, and Rescue Me will all return in 2009.
Lifetime’s Army Wives has shown remarkable resilience in its second season, maintaining strong ratings among women in spite of facing tough competition in ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, among others. New comedy Rita Rocks was not particularly strong in its first week, performing slightly worse than its Reba lead-in. The network may decide not to order additional episodes if it can get the same or better ratings from an off-network show it already has the rights for.
I am including data for some of the most requested shows below, but you can download the entire report here for information on all the shows listed above. Note: all the numbers below are ratings points. (i.e. 1% of the relevant demo group).
We do have the full season ratings for Mad Men, but only because AMC is good to us. BTW, those table clips above are fairly worthless because you neglected to include the table header (that the numbers are only for households on the left, and specific demos in the other columns)
I plead guilty to over-cropping! Header included.
What are “good” ratings for cable tv shows?
Thanks so much for this! I’ve been wondering about Sons of Anarchy because the show rocks. If you haven’t checked it out, you should. It has fantastic acting and I expect it to get a couple acting nods come awards time.
Any analysis you can share Robert? SOA seems to be doing pretty damn well since its getting better ratings than Always Sunny, but who knows what’s considered ‘good’ for FX? Any insight would be really appreciated cause I want to see this show make it to S3. Thanks!
Mandy, We have the list of the top 20 cable shows each week here (or via the Cable Top 20 link at the top of the page:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/category/ratings/nielsen-top-cable-tv-show-ratings
Most of the shows in this report are not usually in our top 20 list however.
Mandi (who’d have figured sequential comments from different Mandy(i)s),
FX’s average prime-time household average rating this season has been 0.8. Since SoA is well above that, plus note the MAGNA comments, I’d say its a keeper.
Thank you for the SoA numbers. I love that show and I am so glad that there will be a season 2
I find it hilarious that Clone Wars and Sanctuary (a pretty good show so far) both outperform best drama winner Mad Men, stuck on Friday nights. The Force may not be greater than Oprah, but it’s surely greater than Mad Men and its Emmys!
I don’t get FX ( is that where Sons of Anarchy is? ) but was in Sante Fe for a month and the folks there did get it. Sons of Anarchy is the best new show on cable. The same updated Barnaby Jones/ Rockford crime shows ( ” upgraded” for 2008 with female leads) like Closer, Saving Grace etc are dull. Ron Perleman, the great Katie Sagal, etc … this is exactly what FX has needed all along. Too bad I’m back in Kansas again. I miss that show.
Vader, Mad Men definitely has the buzz. Robert drew parallels between Mad Men and Gossip Girl earlier. Of course, none of them is fit to shine SpongeBob’s ratings shoes. Edit: Does he even wear shoes?
Robert — it looks like our instincts about “Sanctuary” were right. The show is off almost 50% from its series premiere, although somewhat less so in the 18-49 demo.
http://www.poptower.com/images/db/1067/420/300/spongebob-squarepants.jpg
Sure he does Bill! You are definately correct…Spongebob is a ratings juggernaut (or as close as we’re going to get) when it comes to the cable ratings. The number of spots he has in the top 40 every week is astounding. Nickalodeon has got to be above and beyond thrilled about how it’s done.
I was looking at this report from MAGNA and I noticed that most of the ratings listed in it are much lower than those released in the Nielsen Galaxy Report and by the networks.
Do you know where MAGNA got its ratings numbers? And if they did get them from Nielsen, why are they so much lower?
Kat, MAGNA numbers all come from Nielsen. As for the differences you’re seeing, are you sure that you’re comparing apples to apples? There are so many different kind of numbers reported/measured (particularly with this MAGNA report which shows some things we otherwise never see/report) that it’s easy to get caught up comparing different numbers.
Son’s of Anarchy is a bore it could be so much better who is watching this crap,watching pig bundy as a tough biker chick?Yeah right when is Al,Kelly,and Bud going to show up?The production values are terrible.
SoA is an awesome show. It is smart, brutal and very well acted. After I finished The Wire and watched Heroes fall apart, I figured there was nothing good left to watch on TV. If you haven’t seen Sons of Anarchy, do yourself a favor and check it out. The episodes come out on Hulu.com after they air and the quality is excellent.
FX is doing great in my opinion, all except Testees. It’s sort of funny but not something I would speed home to watch. SOA and Sunny are awesome shows though.