X-Men: The (fan fic) Series

A few comments have been made about the ratings drop Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (henceforth AOS) took in its second episode. Second episode drops are to be expected, you will always have more people watch the first episode than you will continue to watch the series on a regularly basis. However, huge drops can be troubling and shows signs of disinterest in the audience. AOS did have a drop that, when you look at it individually, looks troublesome, but when you look at it globally, still keeps the series sitting in calm waters.

Let’s look at AOS and it’s ratings so far:

Episode 1 – 4.7/14 rating/share – 12.12mil viewers
Episode 2 – 3.3/10 ratings/share – 8.66mil viewers

In ratings share, the first episode managed to beat out the return on NCIS. NCIS being literally the #1 rated show on Network television and has broken viewership records. Basically, NCIS is a behemoth, so it’s little surprise that AOS is having a little trouble matching up to it.

NCIS

Episode 1 – 3.6/11 – 20.02mil viewers
Episode 2 – 3.5/11 – 19.98mil viewers

NCIS stayed consistent, which makes sense because it’s also starting in on its 11th season, that tends to mean the show has a fairly solid fan base.

So yes, AOS lost a chunk of the rating share, but it’s not much lower than NCIS’ share. As for the viewership, okay, that is a bit dodgy seeing as Person of Interest managed 12.35mil viewers with only a 2.6/8 rating share two hours later, but it’s still not enough to truly sweat about once you factor in the following:

AOS is going after a different demographic, one that utilizes modern conveniences such as Hulu, and AOS’s pilot episode was viewed 1.6mil times over five days. Not to mention DVR viewing accounted for another 3.7mil in viewership.

AOS is also a franchise ripe for tie-ins of everything from toys to iPhone covers to clothes. Even if AOS can’t reach the number of viewers NCIS has, it will still generate more revenue in licensing than NCIS could ever hope to.

But do you want some more cold, hard, numbers to quell your worries?

Let’s look back a year at CW’s Arrow.

Episode 1 – 1.3/4 – 4.14mil viewers
Episode 2 – 1.3/4 – 3.48mil viewers

Granted, that’s not bad for the CW which is always lower in the ratings, but Arrow is a comic-book television show and trying to pull the same audience in that respect. The fact that the ratings share and viewership is double for AOS is nothing to ignore.

But Arrow airs on a different night, so let’s see what went up against NCIS when it premiered in 2012? Oh, that’s right, CBS didn’t even try…

Dancing With the Stars 

Sept 25th – 2.1/6 – 11.79mil viewers
Oct 2nd – 1.4/4 – 8.29mil viewers

CBS didn’t even try a scripted series against NCIS. Not in 2012, not in 2011, so we have to go back to 2010.

No Ordinary Family

Episode 1 – 2.9/9 – 10.079mill viewers
Episode 2 – 2.7/8 – 8.98mil viewers

The ratings share is remarkably lower, though yes, the viewership on the second episode is on par with AOS. But AOS has much more going for it, such as the above mentioned licensing revenue which is already established, plus a cameo from a big name actor who is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe set the series abuzz online after last night’s second episode.

As troublesome as it might be to hear that OMG, IT DROPPED 30%!, I will remind you that the Avengers movie dropped 50.3% after it’s first weekend. It’s all about context. AOS is up against one of the biggest TV shows on television and still pulling in better ratings than any show in that slot has done in the past three years (probably longer but I’m too lazy to look back that far). It’s also listed as likely to be renewed by the people who are pretty good at predicting this stuff.

So, yeah, don’t worry about AOS just yet, just watch the show and enjoy.