Two years of “Please don’t cancel [show name] it’s the only show I watch on [network name], if you cancel [show name], I’ll never watch [network name] again.
Two years of “The average person isn’t smart enough to handle the subtle brilliance of [lowly-rated show name].”
Two years of will it be renewed or will it be canceled?
Two years of all that, and so much more.
It has been a blast.
We don’t have an official anniversary really. We had the site up and running by the end of August 2007, and we had a more formal launch in the middle of September, but Bill and I have been at it for over two years now, and today is just as good of a day as any to celebrate it.
An idea that came up over lunch has turned into being a lot of fun for both of us. For the first year really, things didn’t look so great from the perspective of traffic. I would tell Bill I was obsessed with getting to a million page views and he’d look at me like I was nuts. In our best 30 day period last season we had over 3 million page views. Bill still looks at me like I’m nuts, but at least now it’s for different reasons.
I’ve had the tremendous good fortune to take an endeavor like this on with someone like Bill Gorman. We both can be stubborn as mules, and both have the occasional short fuse. Especially during some of our web hosting crises last season (all cleared up now!) there were times we wanted to strangle each other. But we never stay mad at each other or wind up taking anything personally. And we always seem to be able to come to agreement or compromise.
Some shout outs of thanks:
- First and foremost: our readers and commenters. Thank you!
- Julia, who helps out with fixing apostrophe abuse sometimes, and will do an occasional post herself
- “Holly” who is a long-time reader and participator in the comments. She’s very helpful at answering questions and usually is faster than Bill and I at it!
- Pretty much anyone and everyone involved with making the TV shows that we track, whether they perform well in the ratings or not.
- All of the networks, especially the people at the various networks who have been very helpful to us
- The TV journalist/blogging community, there are way too many to name, but many of them are in our blogroll on the lower right hand side of our site.
- To Matt Drudge for the “TV Ratings” link on Drudge Report
- Rackspace Cloud web hosting: they don’t sponsor us and I’m not being paid to say this, and I hope this doesn’t put the jinx on, but switching to them was a great move. They helped us solve some problems when we first switched and the service was great. We’ve had a few high traffic events since then and the site has run flawlessly.
- And of course Nielsen. Despite some issues, they have been helpful. Plus there’s no doubt, the impetus that led to the lunchtime discussion that birthed this site was Nielsen data.
- Update: need to add Bravo — through a relationship we had with Bravo/Television Without Pity for the game it used to run on the Web (TV Bigshot) we found a lot of our readers (including Julia mentioned above!)
I’m sure I missed many shout outs, please don’t take it personally, and thank you too for two great years!
Congratulations! Thanks for doing such a great job. I’m addicted to this web site.
So say we all!
Congratulations! Last year I used to not even look up ratings, and now the first website I stop by in the morning is TVbytheNumbers. It’s such a great and informative site and even though people watch TV now less than ever before, I still love television and this website gives me the good news and the bad news everyday. Thank you so much.
i second what junior said
Thank you two for having such a great website! I’ve loved seeing TV ratings for years, and when I discovered this site in late-2007, I fell in love with it! Now, I don’t check ANYWHERE else for TV ratings info! Just here!
thanks everyone (who is up very early!). And Junior G., people are watching MORE TV than ever before, just not on the broadcast networks in prime time…
Congrats!!! u run a really good website here!
Congrats!
Well, it’s 2PM here,Robert
Congratulations! I found this site while trying to explain ratings and demo’s effect on decisions to cancel a show and that it wasn’t all about the networks being evil. It rapidly became an addiction and now its in my daily favorites list and I visit everyday (sometimes more than once).
You forgot that giant Drudge for that great big link he gives you.
BTW:Happy B-day. I enjoy the info you guys do so well!!!
Congrats guys…you do a great job in supporting a crazy niche group like us!
I haven’t been around here as long as some others, but happy birthday! May the site run forever! May you get many million more viewers! And may Joss’s Biggest Fan continue to entertain you (and us all) for many more years to come! And all that other good stuff.
Andy, I did not forget Drudge, he is in the shout outs!
Shelly: JBF has been absent for a couple of weeks now. I hope just resting up for the big season premiere event in a few weeks!
Congrats! Definitely one of my favorite sites, as you and Bill bring commentary and your own analysis on shows and networks in addition to the numbers.
Keep up the good work!
Congrats, guys. I love the cable ratings (True Blood True Blood), the renew/cancel index (ooh, that show’s a goner), and the DVD sales (TB Wow).
Here’s to a long long run for this site. Perhaps we’ll even outlast American Idol.
Best Website Ever.
’nuff said.
I visit every day. Great Web Site! Thanks for all your work.
I, too, visit the site at least once a day. It is the best resource fo the SOAP OPERA ratings and break downs anywhere. You material is presented in a format that is so easy to understand, and like the many others, I appreciate the time and devotion you put into making this information available. Are there ways (like some sites allow PAYPAL) that we can send you some small thank you’s – especially in celebration of the second anniversary? I believe the second anniversary is cash contributions if I remember correctly!
congatulations!!!!!!!!!!your site is great!!!!!!
i just hope that you will bring back the rating tables!!!i really miss them!!!!!!!
Thanks again, everyone.
Billy, the Soap Opera Ratings are actually from the Soap Opera Network forums, we link back to them, but they do are the ones doing the nice formatting!
As for Paypal, we really appreciate the offer, thank you, but don’t want to go with a “tip jar” approach, at least for now. But again, it is appreciated!
George: We miss them too.
Sorry Robert….I admit I cant read. You are 100% correct! Again: Congrats.
Last november I ran a Google search looking for how the latest season of Heroes was doing in the ratings. The 1st, or maybe 2nd, thing that popped up was this sight. And while there wasn’t much good news in Heroes’ ratings, I found an awesome new website to frequent. Way to go guys! Tvbythenumbers is one of the top sights I go to when I don’t want to do classwork
Congratulations!
Congrats, its a great website! Found this website when looking for Heroes season three ratings! Now I come everyday! Well done and happy bday tvbythenumbers
I also visit every day. This is the best ratings site out there – great articles and analysis, and the commenters are smart and insightful. Thanks!
Congratulations on your anniversary and thank you for a great site!
I’d like to thank TVBigShot for pointing me in the direction of TVBTN.
Also, Nick C. who has apparently completely disappeared this summer.
And maybe it’s time to start merchandising TVBTN.
I’m thinking a t-shirt that says something like:
Your favorite show’s ratings suck
!= Your favorite show sucks
!= You suck
Happy Anniversary!
Congrats on two great years … here’s to 20 more
As I found out this summer, you have a strong group of loyal supporters in Canada, who would be absolutely overjoyed if you would tackle viewership ‘up there’ one day.
As one of my dear friends put it, ” there is nothing as professional and encompassing available here that handles viewership so professionally.” High praise and well deserved ! Congratulations and Happy Birthday.
Robert and Bill,
I’m thrilled that you guys still think this is fun after two years. I think it’s fun reading the site, but I’m not sure how much fun I would have compiling all this data! Thank you for giving us non-insiders an intelligent, clear, unbiased view of how the television ratings industry really works. Here’s hoping you all have many more great years, and all your favorite shows get renewed next spring!
Woo-hoo…congrats TBTN!
I started visiting this place right when it started up (the first post I read was something about TiVo subs for a research project)….. I was hooked! Granted, back then it was pretty empty around here with many line/bar/bubble graphs and white…lots of white! But you guys have grown up so fast…*sniff*
Congratulations! This is BY FAR the best ratings site on the net.
Congratulations!
Happy Anniversary! I’m just a newbie here, came around July. I really love this site! I discovered your site through wikipedia actually because there are many articles there that uses this site as reference.
Great job guys. Keep it up! This is a ratings geek heaven
Happy Anniversay! This has been one of my go-to sites for the last year. I love looking up last night’s ratings but now I love your news and discussions too. Keep up the great work!
Congratulations! This is a great site.
Congratulations!
I found this site about a year ago in an attempt to keep up with the ratings of my favorite programs. Since then, a lot of those shows have gone by the wayside (Terminator: TSSC, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Life On Mars, Life, Eleventh Hour, etc.) but TVBTN has become someplace I visit on a daily basis even when I’m not looking for any specific data.
Thanks for all your time and effort.
(and thanks for glossing over my ignorance of correct comma usage)
Happy Birthday guys.
I don’t post everyday….but I’m out here everyday.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY”
Congratulations on two years! If I could get a couple hundred visitors a day, I’d be more than happy! But your testimony is great to hear- I have faith that one day, if I keep providing useful content, my blog will be a success as well! You all are absolutely amazing. This is probably my favorite site on the net.
happy birthday, i have been on this site for a year, great job
Julia, the weird thing is that Nick C. isn’t even updating his own blog lately. I wonder what’s going on?
Shelly, I know he’s been really busy this summer. Hopefully his schedule will clear up soon.
I Agree with Kathy B. at the Very Top of the Comments List
If it wasn’t for this Site then i wouldn’t know anything about the ratings, finding out about with show would or wouldn’t come next season and all that.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY and Congratulations.
Peace…
Congrats to making it two years! This is my absolute favorite tv website, and after a long and busy summer I am excited to think of fall tv returning… and of course all the discussion it will spark
Congrats! This is great news and we are happy to have you hosted with us. Wishing you many more years of success.
Angela Bartels
The Rackspace Cloud
Twitter: @rackcloud
Work: 210.312.3766
Cell: 210.867.9920
Email: angela.bartels@rackspace.com
Congratulations. I found you guys from Bravo when they ran that program a network contest two years ago. Give them a small shout out.
This is my late morning read almost every day. Thanks for keeping me ratings obsessed.
Please give Survivor a bit more respect even if it is almost as acient as I am.
Congratulations!!! Here’s to many more years to come with my favorite website about Chuck.
Aztop — Bravo now shouted out above! I respect Survivor so much I watched the Gabon edition and loved it!
Chuck still seems so far off into the future. Because it is
Congrats! I look forward to seeing how the site will evolve as we move forward.
Congrats- hope you guys bring back the network weekly top 20
Robert:
Glad you caught the Survivor bug. I’m wondering we are now 9 full years and 18 editions into Survivor. How does Surivior’s ratings compare to other one hour shows, scripted or otherwise (well I guess don’t include 60 minutes) at the 9 year mark?
Shows I can think of off hand are Law & Order, Law & Order SVU (?), ER, going back Murder She Wrote, going way way back, Gunsmoke! (Just kidding on these two)
American Idol is I think about the same age, but not as many editions.
AzTop, I’d love it if we had some sort of easy way to do those comparisons. Unfortunately we lack the data to do it any justice.
CONGRATS ON TWO YEARS!
This is one of my favorite sites to go to.
Well, Robert, you could still talk about Chuck… for example, Superman (Brandon Routh) is going to fly in to teach Chuck about some spy stuff… and apparently Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk) shows up as well.
Might make it worth the wait
Either way, congrats on 2 years! May you have 23 more to reach your own silver age!
Nice work! May there be many more years to come.
Robert and Bill,
Just curious. Do you guys make a full-time living off of this blog yet? If so, how? I don’t see any ads. And if you don’t make a full-time living off of this, what do you do to pay for the bills and are you hoping to eventually make a living off of this? If so, how?
And CONGRATS on turning TWO!
Happy Birthday!!
Scott Jensen: They have ads, I’m seeing Fantasy Football ads as I type this
By the way this statement is so spot on haha
Two years of “Please don’t cancel [show name] it’s the only show I watch on [network name], if you cancel [show name], I’ll never watch [network name] again.
Congratulations on your 2nd birthday. It is a great site. Hope you have many more anniversaries.
Congradulations for lasting this long and the growing trafic too!
Got here via a link from Drudge last year. Between this and boxofficemojo(also linked at Drudge), I’ve got 2/3rds(haven’t found one for radio yet) of my media numbers obsessions covered.
If this site is still here for the 5th aniversary, we should all treat Robert and Bill to lunch somewhere(Hell’s Kitchen maybe?).
Congratulations! You guys are great and show the patience of Job even when the discussions in the comments get a little heated or off-track! Here’s hoping for many more years of a truly fabulous site.
Great site. Congratulations
“The average person isn’t smart enough to handle the subtle brilliance of VERONICA MARS!”
I wish I had been around for those discussions. Congrats on two years!
I don’t post often, but there isn’t too many sites on the internet better than this one. I found this site earlier this year wanting to know how Heroes was doing. Now, there isn’t a day where I don’t visit at least one. Not only do you report ratings, but you give your readers insight about the television business that goes beyond the numbers. I personally thank you and keep up the good work.
Congrats! Especially to my beloved Robert!
Jay, VM had already been canceled by the time TVBTN launched. So we all missed those discussions.
Congrats numbers dudes!