TV has lowest-rated week ever

[dswallow]

Wednesday, July 12, 2006; Posted: 8:42 a.m. EDT (12:42 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/12/nielsens.ap/index.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- TV viewers must have taken to the beach: It was the least-watched week in recorded history for the four biggest broadcast networks.

CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox averaged 20.8 million viewers during the average prime-time minute last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. That sunk below the previous record of 21.5 million, set during the last week of July in 2005.

[...]

[Sirius Black]

Not surprising as there is very little worthy of attention during July. Since getting the HBO/Showtime package, I haven't watched anything on ABC, CBS, etc until yesterday's allstar game.

[MikeMar]

Well having the 4th of July fall on the Tuesday probably messed them up. I know I was on vaca and didn't watch much TV

[jamesbobo]

The only show I'm watching on broadcast right now is Last Comic Standing, and that wasn't on the week of July 4. Other than that it's HBO (Louie, Louie & movies), movies on Showtime, Cinemax and Starz, F/X's Rescue Me and Philadelphia and Dave Chapelle on Comedy Central.

[marksman]

I think it is a bit of a misnomer saying it is the least watched tv week ever. Maybe for the big networks, but if you look at overall tv viewership, I am guessing it was not the lowest week ever.

It is the lowest for the networks because it is the summer at the acme of their ongoing ratings decline that has taken place for the past 20 years. There is a lot of new programming available on cable right now, and nothing but crap on the networks....

[Church AV Guy]

...It is the lowest for the networks because it is the summer at the acme of their ongoing ratings decline that has taken place for the past 20 years...

That is one interesting sentence. Is what you are saying, it is the highest point of their decline? That's an oxymoronic point of view, isn't it? The strangest thing is, I totally agree with you. I have been watching the USA and Sci-Fi channels, but there is almost nothing on the big four except Lost and Veronica Mars reruns.

The big networks really don't seem to get what the viewers really want. Entertainment!

[JustAllie]

There was TV on last week?

/waiting for July 14...

[jschuur]

Technically, the lowest TV viewership ever would have been sometime around January 26th, 1926 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_television), one of the first public demonstrations of television ;)

[Bierboy]

Well having the 4th of July fall on the Tuesday probably messed them up. I know I was on vaca and didn't watch much TVI hear that...I wasn't on vacation, but nearly everyone else at work was...having only to take four vacation days to get a full week off.
The only show I'm watching on broadcast right now is Last Comic Standing, and that wasn't on the week of July 4. Other than that it's HBO (Louie, Louie & movies), movies on Showtime, Cinemax and Starz, F/X's Rescue Me and Philadelphia and Dave Chapelle on Comedy Central.I watch more on broadcast TV now than on cable (or at least as much), but that's because I have HD and view it OTA.

[jamesbobo]

I watch more on broadcast TV now than on cable (or at least as much), but that's because I have HD and view it OTA.

I have HD, too. But there is nothing on broadcast that I want to watch, until the new season starts.

[MassD]

Using the networks to make judgements on viewership is obsolete. Ratings publishers need to treat CBS, ABC, Fox, and NBC no different than they do FX, ESPN, HBO...

There is more quality content (far more IMHO) on the other networks than what we have availible the "big 4".

So combining the fact that everyone is off doing something with the fact that the big networks are not only showing mostly crap, but repeats of said crap... I'm not surprised.

[Church AV Guy]

I completely agree. The "big 4" have little quality television, especially little quality writing, anymore. If you want something like that, and more and more people do, hence the ratings exodus, go to TNT or USA, and if you want something more out-there and experimental, you have to go to Showtime or HBO. The "big 4" wouldn't TOUCH anything like what are on the cable channels.

[marksman]

That is one interesting sentence. Is what you are saying, it is the highest point of their decline? That's an oxymoronic point of view, isn't it? The strangest thing is, I totally agree with you. I have been watching the USA and Sci-Fi channels, but there is almost nothing on the big four except Lost and Veronica Mars reruns.

The big networks really don't seem to get what the viewers really want. Entertainment!

Maybe a bit oxymoronic, but the intent was to point out that this is the lowest the ratings have ever been so conversely perhaps at the peak of their ratings decline, hence the use of acme. Yet, their decline is not finished, it is assured to continue and to perpetually replace itself for years.

Upon further review, it is a weird sentence, but I stand by it, I think.

[MassD]

Oh, I agree... the ratings decline of the "big 4" is far from over. The market, in a sense, is equalizing. Even as soon as a couple of years ago, the main networks still had a death grip on the sitcom and drama shows... there were some shows on the cable networks, but they were still somewhat rare. Now? The list is growing fast... Pioneers like the Sopranos, to other shows like Deadwood, Rescue Me, Battlestar Gallactica... you name it.

If CBS, ABC et al. don't go through a drastic change in how they do their thing, it won't be long before they are pulling the same ratings as SciFi, or FX....

[Church AV Guy]

Maybe a bit oxymoronic, but the intent was to point out that this is the lowest the ratings have ever been so conversely perhaps at the peak of their ratings decline, hence the use of acme. Yet, their decline is not finished, it is assured to continue and to perpetually replace itself for years.

Upon further review, it is a weird sentence, but I stand by it, I think.
Fair enough. It is so rare that I get an INTERESTING sentence that I just had to comment on it.

On topic: The ratings of the big 4 will continue to decline until they start to do quality programming. maybe not even then, because the big 4 have more competition than they have ever seen before, and that competition isn't going to disappear any time soon. They had better learn to live with disappointment. :)