News The Big Bang Theory Hits All-Time High Ratings

[rubyanjel]

I would say that there's a slight chance (take note I said slight chance, and on a scale of 1-10, I say 0.001) that the ratings might drop A LITTLE (I said a little) for episode 9 compared to episode 8. I don't know. That will depend on their momentum, since they would be having one week break before resuming to a new episode. They might need to promote the episode more so that people will not get the impression that there won't be a new episode after Thanksgiving.

If ever the number is constant for the next episode or it rises up, then I guess people are just curious with the series, and it's up to them if those new folks are to stay.:D

[phantagrae]

I would say that there's a slight chance (take note I said slight chance, and on a scale of 1-10, I say 0.001) that the ratings might drop A LITTLE (I said a little) for episode 9 compared to episode 8. I don't know. That will depend on their momentum, since they would be having one week break before resuming to a new episode. They might need to promote the episode more so that people will not get the impression that there won't be a new episode after Thanksgiving.

If ever the number is constant for the next episode or it rises up, then I guess people are just curious with the series, and it's up to them if those new folks are to stay. :D

I think most people in the US are used to the pattern of reruns on or near Thanksgiving and then new episodes immediately afterward. And a lot of shows (not BBT) will say in their previews something like, "Two weeks from today, in an all-new episode..." or whatever, so audiences are already thinking about their favorite shows after the holidays.

I think the harder part is that starting Friday (and even on Thanksgiving day, for some people?!?!), people get into their hard-core Christmas shopping mode and may or may not watch their favorite shows in the first run. Nowadays with TiVo and DVR and all that, though, it shouldn't make that big a difference in the final, total numbers.

I just love that TBBT just keeps growing upward. Good job all around!

[Pomita]

The present ratings really sound like a milestone achievement for any comedy show these days. Honestly, the only other thing I could have asked for was being in the US at this time - I'm sure this kind of success and popularity has its echoes all round (reruns, merchandize, over-the-water-cooler appreciation etc)!

Yes--for all the deep analysis that may or may not go on for L/P or S/A, in the end it's still a comedy--with a sweet center and a sharp edge.

I like that description, very befitting.

[Tensor]

I don't know if anyone saw this, but the Live + 7 numbers for 6x5 (The Extract Obliteration) and 6x6 (The Habitation Configuration) are showing the show hitting a 7.2 share for the 18-49 demo for both weeks.  A share increase, from live viewers, of 2.2, from 5.0, and 2.0, from 5.2, respectively.  In terms of total viewers, the two weeks averaged 20 million viewers (20.16 and 19.84 respectively) with an increase of  4.34 from 15.8  and 3.93 from 15.9 million respectively.  The Live + 7 numbers for 6x7 and 6x8 are not out yet (they take until about two weeks after airing) but it's interesting that the live 18-49 share was 5.2 and 5.7 with live viewers at 16.6 and 17.6.  During those two weeks, live viewers set year (AND SERIES) highs.   And, while Modern Family currently has a small lead on BBT in Live + 7 for the year, during the week of Oct 29-Nov 4 (6x6) BBT scored a 7.2 share for 18-49 compared to Modern Family's 6.3, with almost 5 million more total viewers than Modern Family.      

Edited November 29, 2012 by Tensor

[bostrich]

I've been following TV ratings this season and this week almost all scripted shows have had a bump in the 18-49 demo by at least 0.2 compared to pre-thanksgiving numbers. For example, NCIS increased by 0.5 (3.1/3.6 on tuesday) and over a million live viewers compared to 2 weeks ago. 2 Broke Girls hit a season high on Monday at 4.1. (I waited until Wednesday's early numbers were out to post this and the trend didn't continue last night. Modern Family increased by only 0.1 to 4.7 from two weeks ago. But it could be adjusted up later today).

 

 

 

Oh well, based on Mon/Tues and a gut feeling, I think the show will either match or hit another season high in 18-49 demo and probably overall viewers tonight. To make a fun guess I'd say it will add another 0.2 in the final ratings to make 5.9. It could crack 6.0 matching the series high demo set in season 3. Since I'm making predictions, I think the show will match if not improve on 6.0 by the end of Feb sweeps. However, I'm not sure how much the excellent promo (biggest mystery of the year!) for The 43 Peculiarity drew in extra viewers two weeks ago, or if it had any effect at all on ratings. I'm not sure how much good vs bad promos effect things, given that most people tuning in probably don't base their decision to watch on them.

 

 

 

Fun fact: the repeat shown at 8:30 on Monday pulled a 3.2. The 8pm original How I Met Your Mother was 3.4. When viewers of live network television are declining year after year, this show's continued success is remarkable.

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2012 by bostrich

[Tensor]

Slight drop off for 6x9 "The Parking Lot Escalation"   Overnight (Live + Same Day) was 5.4/16 (18-49) with a total of 17.15 Million total viewers.  Adjustments will be made later today(6x8 had an original 5.5/16 share and finished at 5.7/17 after adjustments).  It still dwarfed anything else at 8PM.  

[bigbangsheldon]

Still good though.

[bostrich]

Well, I was wrong! Rats. 5.5 in finals is still an amazing figure. 6.0 by the end of February might be wishful thinking, but it's fun to hope. By comparison, 2.5 men was the runner up for the night at 4.0 and most shows were between 1-2. The Walking Dead was the only other (non-sportsball) program to crack 5 this week. The BB cast and crew are doing an amazing job. Congrats to them!

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

Understandable. That was my favorite episode so far.

[Pomita]

It's still great! And definitively shows that the ratings didn't soar just because Amy and Bernadette weren't there.

[Tensor]

I don't know if anyone saw this, but the Live + 7 numbers for 6x5 (The Extract Obliteration) and 6x6 (The Habitation Configuration) are showing the show hitting a 7.2 share for the 18-49 demo for both weeks.  A share increase, from live viewers, of 2.2, from 5.0, and 2.0, from 5.2, respectively.  In terms of total viewers, the two weeks averaged 20 million viewers (20.16 and 19.84 respectively) with an increase of  4.34 from 15.8  and 3.93 from 15.9 million respectively.  The Live + 7 numbers for 6x7 and 6x8 are not out yet (they take until about two weeks after airing) but it's interesting that the live 18-49 share was 5.2 and 5.7 with live viewers at 16.6 and 17.6.  During those two weeks, live viewers set year (AND SERIES) highs.   And, while Modern Family currently has a small lead on BBT in Live + 7 for the year, during the week of Oct 29-Nov 4 (6x6) BBT scored a 7.2 share for 18-49 compared to Modern Family's 6.3, with almost 5 million more total viewers than Modern Family.      

 

Ok, first off, a correction.   in the above, episode 6x5 should be "The Holographic Excitation" and 6x6 is "The Extract Obliteration", sorry for the error.  The numbers for each episode are the same, just the titles change.  Second, I have the Live + 7 numbers for 6x7 "The Habitation Configuration" and 6x8 "The 43 Peculiarity".  6x7 increased from a 5.1 share to a 7.1 share for the 18-49 demo and 6x8 went from a 5.7 to a 7.5.   In total viewers, 6x5 netted 20.9 million viewers, up by almost one million viewers and 6x8 had 21.5 million.   A couple notable items, one, 6x8, "The 43 Peculiarity",  was the first time the "Big Bang Theory" has ever passed 20 million viewers for the Live + 3 metric.   Second, BBT is averaging 19.4 million on Live + 3 this year.  Only Sunday Night Football (20.7) and NCIS (20.6) have more viewers.  

 

After reading some of the preceding posts, I hope the following will clear some things up.   Live + Same Day (SD) is no longer used to set advertising rates.   Live + 3 day DVR is now the standard and was implemented in 2007.   This year, networks are pushing to start using Live + 7 day DVR.   There are now 14 shows that pull in more than three million viewers in the seven days after broadcast.  BBT and "Modern Family" have no trouble pulling in over four million.   The ad buyers are pushing back on this as sales, movie premieres, etc can be time sensitive and the ad buyers don't want to pay for ads that are not being seen prior to the event.   And, as a BTW (and something I didn't know until I was looking something else up for this post), Neilsen now track not only the viewers for shows, but also the viewers for ads on DVRs.   If ads are fast forwarded, they are not counted as viewed.  

[bostrich]

That is interesting. I assumed only live (+SD) actually matter because that's what tvbythenumbers seem so obsessed with. I know the networks want to appear as if as many people watch their shows as possible, but if I was an advertiser, I'd be pretty leery about paying for DVR'ed ads. Even if Nielsen can tell, the numbers that don't FF must be pretty small.

[Tensor]

That is interesting. I assumed only live (+SD) actually matter because that's what tvbythenumbers seem so obsessed with. I know the networks want to appear as if as many people watch their shows as possible, but if I was an advertiser, I'd be pretty leery about paying for DVR'ed ads. Even if Nielsen can tell, the numbers that don't FF must be pretty small.

 

The advertisers accepted Live + 3 grudgingly, as sort of a nod to the forced ads that appear on networks web sites, if you choose to watch programs there.  In 2007, Nielsen was not able to track DVR ads, as they can now, which is why the networks are pushing for Live + 7.   While the DVR non-FF ads may be small, there are some and the networks want to count those, since they can now be identified.   Timing is the sticking point and whether networks should give a credit for a time sensitive ad that is pushed beyond the event date or whether days 4-7 should be retroactively charged.  Along with changes in the technology that Nielsen is using to track web, live, DVR, streaming, etc.

[Tensor]

I found this rather interesting, so I thought I'd share.  We've gotten pretty used to seeing the show have over 16-17 million viewers with a mid 5 number for the 18-49 demographic.  So, this past week's numbers of 12 million with a 3.3 demo doesn't really look all that impressive.  However, the following is a list of shows during the last week of new shows (Dec 10-16) that beat either the total viewers or demo attained by this weeks (shown on 12/27) repeat:

Big Bang Theory                       12.0        3.3

 

The Voice (Monday)                  12.3        3.8

Two Broke Girls (9 PM)                            3.7    Total viewers were below 12 Million

Two Broke Girls (9:30 PM)                       3.8    Total viewers were below 12 Million

NCIS                                          17.5                 Demo was below 3.3

NCIS  LA                                    15.1                 Demo was below 3.3

The Voice (Tuesday)                                3.6    Total viewers were below 12 Million 

Criminal Minds                           12.0                Demo was below 3.3

Modern Family                                         4.2    Total viewers were below 12 Million

Big Bang Theory                        16.7       5.4  

Two and a Half Men                   13.3       4.1

 

(If you are puzzled as to why there could be a lot of viewers, but the show didn't beat TBBT demo, think of it as there were a lot of people who were older than 49 watching the show.   If a show beat a demo number, but didn't have more viewers, think of it as the number of 18-49 viewers was larger.   It's not quite that simple, but it will help you decipher the numbers if you think of it that way.)   

 

That's it.  10 first run shows, out of approximately 70 for the week (not all shows that week were first run) that beat one or the other number of a REPEAT of the TBBT.   Only three shows could beat both numbers, and one of those was a new TBBT and another had TBBT for a lead in.  The other networks would love to have those repeat numbers for their first run shows.  As a matter of fact, there were a couple of nights, on a couple of networks,  where TBBT repeat had more viewers than the entire night on another network.  And during the above week, CBS ran a repeat of TBBT on Monday night (out of it's normal time slot), getting 10 million viewers with a 3.0 demo.  Those numbers were an increase from 6.2 Million viewers and a demo of 2.2 over the previous week when a repeat of 2 Broke Girls ran (whose numbers were better than most other first run shows).  

 

There are a couple of caveats here.  One, Football (American football for our international posters) is almost double TBBT in the demo and almost 10 million viewers larger.  For instance, for the week in question, CBS had the late game, which normally overruns into primetime.  The rating for that was 26.5 Million viewers with a 9.2 demo.   This helps whatever network on the nights it has a NFL overrun.  As an example, 60 Minutes can have its viewers increase by up to 10 million and it's demo increase by 3 points, if football runs late and is a direct lead in to 60 minutes.                 

[BangerMain]

 

That's it.  10 first run shows, out of approximately 70 for the week (not all shows that week were first run) that beat one or the other number of a REPEAT of the TBBT.   Only three shows could beat both numbers, and one of those was a new TBBT and another had TBBT for a lead in.  The other networks would love to have those repeat numbers for their first run shows.  As a matter of fact, there were a couple of nights, on a couple of networks,  where TBBT repeat had more viewers than the entire night on another network.  And during the above week, CBS ran a repeat of TBBT on Monday night (out of it's normal time slot), getting 10 million viewers with a 3.0 demo.  Those numbers were an increase from 6.2 Million viewers and a demo of 2.2 over the previous week when a repeat of 2 Broke Girls ran (whose numbers were better than most other first run shows).  

 

TBBT's ratings numbers are phenomenal this year. This is truly the sweet spot for the shows run and I think those numbers can last another two years. They can do that if they keep the formula that they are using in season 6 and keep all those reruns on cable and indy channels humming.

[SRAM]

Will CBS wait till season 7 to sign the actors and extend the show for additional seasons or will they do it before the end of this season?

[Tensor]

Will CBS wait till season 7 to sign the actors and extend the show for additional seasons or will they do it before the end of this season?

 

I'm willing to bet that negotiations are ongoing at this time for at least two, probably three years.   It would be plain silly to wait until next year before starting negotiations.   Unless the cast does a "Friends", there are 7 different negotiations that will have to be done and waiting until next year, to start, could lead to a short time to get it done.   I'm thinking that Kevin Sussman, who may be on the production side of possibly two new shows, will not be a problem, even with his current status as a regular.  

[Tensor]

Ok, more fun ratings information.  I saw this article and for those who don't want to bother going there, I'll review it.  This year, first run episodes of TBBT (when including the Live +7 day after DVR) are AVERAGING 20.3 million viewers week.  When including in time slot repeats (those fill in reruns on Monday don't count), the average drops a bit to 19.05 million viewers a week.   This, the article states is in "Friends" territory.   The last season of Friends, in 2003-2004 averaged 20.8 million viewers.  The biggest half-hour comedy since then was just a year later (2004-2005) with Everybody Loves Raymond, with 17.4 million.  So TBBT, at 19.05, is pretty huge (just for the record, the Live + 7 now is considered the equivalent of Live viewers in the timeframe of 2003-2005.  

     That is great, but then I wondered, about the number of network viewers now vs then and what percentage of network viewers TBBT is pulling in presently.   So I went back and checked.   One caution is the following Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond numbers are the final ratings numbers for the particular year.   TBBT numbers that follow are an average for Thursday nights during Nov-Dec of 2012.  With that in mind, in 2003-2004 Friends averaged 20.84 million viewers out of 60.72 million network viewers.   Raymond had 17.4 million out of 58.85 million network viewers.   This works out to a percentage of network viewers of 34% for Friends and 29.5% for Raymond.    For the time frame of Nov-Dec, TBBT is pulling in 19.12 million out of 38.42 million.    Which works out to 49.72%.  Just about half of the viewers of network television, on Thursday night, are tuning in to see TBBT(and on a first run night, over half).  That's how huge TBBT has gotten. That kind of percentage is something  Cosby, All in the Family, or I Love Lucy did.

[BangerMain]

Ok, more fun ratings information.  I saw this article and for those who don't want to bother going there, I'll review it.  This year, first run episodes of TBBT (when including the Live +7 day after DVR) are AVERAGING 20.3 million viewers week.   

 

TBBT numbers that follow are an average for Thursday nights during Nov-Dec of 2012.  With that in mind, in 2003-2004 Friends averaged 20.84 million viewers out of 60.72 million network viewers.   Raymond had 17.4 million out of 58.85 million network viewers.   This works out to a percentage of network viewers of 34% for Friends and 29.5% for Raymond.    For the time frame of Nov-Dec, TBBT is pulling in 19.12 million out of 38.42 million.    Which works out to 49.72%.  Just about half of the viewers of network television, on Thursday night, are tuning in to see TBBT(and on a first run night, over half).  That's how huge TBBT has gotten. That kind of percentage is something  Cosby, All in the Family, or I Love Lucy did.

 

The audience share numbers for TBBT are getting into historic ranges especially in the money demographic. This season is phenomenal. The powers that be are giving TBBT viewers the story lines they want to see and the response is amazing.

[BangerMain]

Here is an comment, on TVLine, from Kaley after episode 8, on the sixth season's ratings phenomenon:

 

Big Bang drew record numbers last time out. Has anyone sat you guys down and explained the math behind this? How a show in its sixth year is pulling that off?

I don’t need to be sat down to understand. There’s no understanding. I’ve been [acting] for a long time, and we all know that years in, series either plateau, or they keep a great audience. Getting bigger just doesn’t happen. A handful of shows in the past have been able to do that, but it’s very rare, and every Friday morning, we’re still stunned. It still blows our mind, and it’s such a blessing. I guess that’s credit to our writers. It’s not easy to continue to serve up a hilarious script week after week after week, and they just have been…. I feel like this show is better than it ever has been.

 

http://tvline.com/2012/11/29/big-bang-theory-season-9-kaley-cuoco-interview/

Edited January 3, 2013 by BangerMain

[Guest I'm not dead Cheryl]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Tensor" data-cid="80717" data-time="1357107189"><p>

Ok, more fun ratings information. I saw <a href='http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/12/dvr-ratings-the-big-bang-theory-is-approaching-friends-territory.html'> this </a> article and for those who don't want to bother going there, I'll review it. This year, first run episodes of TBBT (when including the Live +7 day after DVR) are AVERAGING 20.3 million viewers week. When including in time slot repeats (those fill in reruns on Monday don't count), the average drops a bit to 19.05 million viewers a week. This, the article states is in "Friends" territory. The last season of Friends, in 2003-2004 averaged 20.8 million viewers. The biggest half-hour comedy since then was just a year later (2004-2005) with Everybody Loves Raymond, with 17.4 million. So TBBT, at 19.05, is pretty huge (just for the record, the Live + 7 now is considered the equivalent of Live viewers in the timeframe of 2003-2005. <br />

That is great, but then I wondered, about the number of network viewers now vs then and what percentage of network viewers TBBT is pulling in presently. So I went back and checked. One caution is the following Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond numbers are the final ratings numbers for the particular year. TBBT numbers that follow are an average for Thursday nights during Nov-Dec of 2012. With that in mind, in 2003-2004 Friends averaged 20.84 million viewers out of 60.72 million network viewers. Raymond had 17.4 million out of 58.85 million network viewers. This works out to a percentage of network viewers of 34% for Friends and 29.5% for Raymond. For the time frame of Nov-Dec, TBBT is pulling in 19.12 million out of 38.42 million. Which works out to 49.72%. Just about half of the viewers of network television, on Thursday night, are tuning in to see TBBT(and on a first run night, over half). That's how huge TBBT has gotten. That kind of percentage is something Cosby, All in the Family, or I Love Lucy did.</p></blockquote>

Thank you so much for this info. It really puts everything into perspective, and those numbers are huge. I wanna add to that my perspective from another country. Here in Argentina, TBBT is the. #1 comedy both in ratings and popularity (according to polls,etc). It is actually the #1 comedy in Latin America, and is not even shown on network TVs, it is only aired on cable.

When I start to think about what the numbers would be if they included other contries it blows my mind (and calculator) away.

[Nogravitasatall]

Thank you so much for this info. It really puts everything into perspective, and those numbers are huge. I wanna add to that my perspective from another country. Here in Argentina, TBBT is the. #1 comedy both in ratings and popularity (according to polls,etc). It is actually the #1 comedy in Latin America, and is not even shown on network TVs, it is only aired on cable.

When I start to think about what the numbers would be if they included other contries it blows my mind (and calculator) away.

 

cheering here too.

 

Never mind any social or political agenda the show might have. Even the people who are unhappy about the show changing have got to be pleased about more implicit science and rationality in the public arena even if in entertainment. Though my readings on how people filter and refute arguments that counter their beliefs does not make me confident it has any effect.

 

The show is popular in Oz..

 

"The Big Bang Theory continues its reign as Australia’s most loved television program, with more than 3.31 million (17.7%) Australians aged 14+ years agreeing they ‘really love this program’, according to Roy Morgan Single Source data for the 12 months to June 2012"

 

I know this doesn't give a comparison with the USA stats, it is more sentiment.Our top rated shows are local reality and local drama. Ill try to find the genre specific results at some time.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Nogravitasatall

[Pomita]

Thanks so much for the detailed info! It's interesting to know that TBBT at present even overtakes Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond in terms of viewer percentage. It's an honor for the show, I'm sure.

 

Just curious, why has the total number of network viewers gone down in the last 8-10 years? Is there any specific reason?

[Tensor]

Thanks so much for the detailed info! It's interesting to know that TBBT at present even overtakes Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond in terms of viewer percentage. It's an honor for the show, I'm sure.   Just curious, why has the total number of network viewers gone down in the last 8-10 years? Is there any specific reason?

With the increase and diversification of different channels, there are more viewers watching non-network channels. I remember my first apartment back in 1977. We had the three networks, PBS, and a couple of independent stations, along with HBO. That's seven choices for viewing. I presently have over 200 channels( not that I watch them all) along with Internet usage means there just aren't as many people watching networks.

[Pomita]

I get it, thanks. So I guess those watching cable channels wouldn't be counted in network television viewership.