Westeros Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 It’s common practice for cable companies alike to skip airing their headline programs on a big holiday like the Memorial Day Weekend, and we saw that with Starz skipping Magic City and Showtime The Borgias. But HBO decided to go ahead and keep serving up Game of Thrones once a week. I know we’re all glad to have seen “Blackwater” when we did, but it did have one negative impact: ratings, which dipped a bit. According to TV by the Numbers, while the episode did win the second place spot in the cable rankings (behind yet more NBA playoffs), it dropped to a 1.6 share (from 2.0) in the 18-49 demographic and 3.384 million viewers for the first airing, with a second airing later in the evening adding an additional 863,000 for a total of 4.244 million viewers. It’s genuinely a holiday thing, so no worries, and the finale may well get the uptick some are hoping to see to put it over the 4 million initial and 5 million total viewership some have hoped for.On the other hand, James Hibbred at EW notes that last year, the seventh episode also aired on Memorial Day weekend and scored 2.4 million… so you can see that the series is way up overall from where it was this time last year. On top of that, Hibberd adds another important piece of information, perhaps the information HBO considers the most important of all: total average viewership per episode has climbed to 10.3 million viewers when factoring in HBO Go, repeat viewings, and On Demand. That secures its place as the third most-watched series on HBO, and if it continues to climb it may well displace True Blood as #2. #1 is, of course, The Sopranos.Perhaps to help that along, starting on June 2nd at 6PM the HBO Zone channel will be running not one, not two, but three back-to-back marathons of all nine S2 episodes, back to back, with the final airing of Blackwater timed to just before the premiere of “Valar Morghulis”. Visit the Site! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Independent George Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I assume HBO didn't change the schedule because it would have affected the global audience (and I'm under the impression that GOT is huge internationally). I'm trying to think of a good Dolorous Edd quip, but I'm failing. I'm obviously disappointed in the ratings, but I'm secure in the knowledge that S3 has already been greenlit, and I'm hoping for some good buzz come awards season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Disappointing but not surprising, considering how many people were out of town, outdoors or otherwise indisposed Sunday night. Regardless I don't think HBO is concerned given the insane buzz the episode generated. I would think the HBO Go numbers will be much bigger for this episode, considering how many folks apparently skipped the first viewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arya The Assassin Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I had forgotten that it was Memorial Day Weekend last weekend, because I was expecting a significant increase compared to episode 8, given all the marketing hype for Blackwater. However, ratings tend to drop up to 10-20% on Memorial Day Weekends, so the drop doesn't come as a big surprise if I keep that in mind.Here are the ratings for season 1, compared to season 2 (Memorial Day Weekend in bold):Viewers of the 1st airing on HBO (U.S.) (in millions of viewers): Ep. 1 Ep. 2 Ep. 3 Ep. 4 Ep. 5 Ep. 6 Ep. 7 Ep. 8 Ep. 9 Ep. 10 Season 1 2,22 2,20 2,44 2,45 2,58 2,44 2,40 2,72 2,66 3,04 Season 2 3,86 3,76 3,77 3,65 3,90 3,88 3,69 3,86 3,38 Change (in percent): Ep. 1 Ep. 2 Ep. 3 Ep. 4 Ep. 5 Ep. 6 Ep. 7 Ep. 8 Ep. 9 Ep. 10 Season 1 -0,9 10,9 0,4 5,3 -5,4 -1,6 13,3 -2,2 14,3 Season 2 -2,6 0,2 -3,0 6,8 -0,6 -4,8 4,6 -12,4 Last year GoT dropped only 1.6% on Memorial Day Weekend (MDW). This year the drop was much higher, around 12%. The 1st season saw a significant 13% jump after MDW, and a 14% increase for the last episode. A similar increase this year would put next week's finale at 3.85 million viewers (estimate), although I suspect the numbers will be higher than 4 M, given this week's 12% drop. I don't think it sounds unreasonable to expect around 4.2 million viewers next week.EDIT: Did a transpose of the rows into columns to improve readability, but the change was lost due to server problems. Oh, well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Monkey Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 What is up with American audiences and Holidays? What exactly do people do on this "Memorial Day" that they don't do a usual Sunday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Zig-Zag Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I was suprised as well when the numbers came out. For such a great episode I was hoping for bigger numbers.People have been waiting for some of the stories to progress with very little happening(ie. Dany)and may have began to lose interest. This memorial weekend just gave them that extra excuse to use the DVR.With the hype this episode has generated, the numbers for the last episode will most certainly be higher, as was the case last season after Baelor. Plus with all the storylines coming to a head, it looks like D&D have put all their eggs in one basket hoping to bring in even more viewers for next season. I really hope it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brienne the Beauty Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Crazy that the best episode in the series got the worst ratings. I guess we can kiss goodbye to seeing any other "grand spectacle" episodes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unRobert Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Crazy that the best episode in the series got the worst ratings. I guess we can kiss goodbye to seeing any other "grand spectacle" episodes.Yeah, I don't think it's damaging overall, but this may be true. Gonna be hard to convince HBO to pour extra money into a single spectacular when the greatness that was the Blackwater didn't get more people interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abaddon Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Ridiculous. People who didn't watch the episode can't know what a spectacle it was, can they?Less than 4 million out of 10+ million watch the first airing. That means roughly 60% of viewers DON'T watch the first airing.The (almost) across the board stellar reviews of the episode have more than validated the decision to actually film Blackwater. Can you imagine if they had stuck to the original plan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk500 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Will you post the total viewing figures for blackwater? I wanna know how many views episode 9 will get after the repeats and stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buster Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 This is madness. People decided to not bother watching the best episode of the series? :bang: If this lowers the budget for next season I'll be really disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spring Bass Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 EW.com is saying that 20% drop in overall TV viewership is normal for Memorial's Day Weekend, which means that a drop of only 12-13% is good news. The only shows that did well on Memorial Day were Western TV Movies, which have high ratings because they draw out all the old people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 What is up with American audiences and Holidays? What exactly do people do on this "Memorial Day" that they don't do a usual Sunday?It has nothing to do with the holiday itself. Memorial Day was actually Monday, but It's a three-day weekend that happens to coincide with schools being let out and the first trappings of summer weather, so lots of barbecues and other such get togethers take place. Also a large percentage of people take vacations either the week before or the week after (with Sunday included either way). Beaches, campsites and such are athrong with tourists who aren't at home and probably aren't watching their TVs.I had the next day off as well, but by the gods I knew where my priorities lay. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Arthur Robert Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I think the "on-demand" option has alot to do with it. This was the first episode I actually watched "live". Give it some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Arthur Robert Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 What is up with American audiences and Holidays? What exactly do people do on this "Memorial Day" that they don't do a usual Sunday?It's the kick off of camping season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akajea Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 They should have started the season on April 8. That way you have the worst episode of the season (8) on the holiday, and Blackwater is safe the next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Pipes Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Disappointing but not surprising. I thought that the holiday might affect the ratings and looks like that was the case. Most shows usually don't air during Memorial Day weekend and GOT probably should have held it off another week. But I'm not worried. I imagine the numbers elsewhere will be higher (DVR, On Demand, additional airings) and I think the ratings will rise next week for the finale. Blackwater is riding a wave of great reviews and buzz.It might have been the lowest rated show but Blackwater still pulled in a rating better than every episode last season. The show is fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boojam Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I assume HBO didn't change the schedule because it would have affected the global audience (and I'm under the impression that GOT is huge internationally). This is a good point. A financial journal reported earlier in the year that HBO had reorganized is foreign distribution , tho not complete yet.I think I have asked the Blue many times here just how it is doing in the rest of the world? We had the odd UK numbers early on, but nothing much since , SKY doing any better?The report that the first season was a big hit in Germany.As for other countries, in fact DVD sales outside the USA, zero news.Pirating aside , like many big films, it may be doing better in foreign markets.How did do in Canada?, they don't observe Memorial Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faint Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 What is up with American audiences and Holidays? What exactly do people do on this "Memorial Day" that they don't do a usual Sunday?It's pretty simple: When Monday is a holiday, Sunday basically becomes a second Saturday. That being the case, Sunday night becomes Saturday night, so people go out for dinner, go to a movie, go clubbing, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WITCHKING Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 EW.com is saying that 20% drop in overall TV viewership is normal for Memorial's Day Weekend, which means that a drop of only 12-13% is good news. The only shows that did well on Memorial Day were Western TV Movies, which have high ratings because they draw out all the old people.What do you mean old people? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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