Dancing with the Stars Season 14, Week 5 – Ratings Watch

Another post in the on-going saga on the DWTS ratings for season 14.  If you want to read previous posts on this topic, you can find them in the following locations:

DWTS Ratings Watch
DWTS 14, Week 1 – Ratings Watch
DWTS 14, Week 2 – Ratings Watch

I skipped a couple weeks, so there is a bit more information in this post than normal. As you will see, DWTS was continuing the slight downward trend but then bumped upward slightly. This is normal, but a bit earlier than past seasons. The results show, on the other hand, seems a lot more erratic – for that reason, I’m going to graph it as well so we can see how it compares to previous seasons.  The only difference now is that American Idol finally mustered enough viewers (or DWTS dipped enough) for it to take second place while DWTS moves into third place. As you will see, they are BARELY beating DWTS and their results show isn’t beating DWTS Results show all the time – the two shows are fighting each other for dominance.

Here are the Nielsens for weeks corresponding to weeks 3, 4 and 5 of DWTS. All ratings were obtained from Zap2It (if you want to see how DWTS is doing in the Demo, click the link).

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Side note: Am I the only one that is happy as HELL to see Once Upon a Time in the Top 20??  OMG, I love that show. I should start a blog to try to figure it out. :-)

Anyway, the point of these posts has always been to provide context so when you see articles about “tumbling ratings” you KNOW that the ratings for all shows are down and that DWTS is still a top FIVE show.  Here’s the graph for the season to date, Season 14 compared to other spring seasons:

The question now is, will this season mimic Season 10 or Season 6?? Brief trend upward followed by a continued slide as the weather gets warmed up OR will it continue upward. I can’t guess, but I’ll be watching with interest. :-) What about the results show? Well, here’s the graph:

 

See, there is nothing consistent about the results show ratings EXCEPT the spike at the end of the season to see who wins. Clearly, figuring out the wild up and down numbers in total viewers would require a lot more research than I’m willing to invest. I would IMAGINE that it is some bizarre combination of what else is on to watch, the celebs on the show, the weather…who knows. What I do find interesting is that the results show ratings haven’t slid downward at the same rate as the performance shows – this isn’t the lowest rated spring season of results show…it’s somewhat in the middle. So, I guess that suggests to me that there is a “bottom” to the ratings of BOTH shows. At least for right now. I also seem to recall (and this is JUST recall – I haven’t gone back to check) that in terms of weekly RANK, the results show has actually moved UP. Both Season 12 and Season 14 seem to be averaging a higher rank than spring seasons before them.

There is a rather striking difference between the two graphs…the performance graph has Seasons 6 through 12 grouped together and relatively consistent trend…not so with the results show. I tend to think that people are less likely to watch the results if they’ve got a better choice…or if a great musical act is on.  Perhaps DWTS should quit drawing it out for a whole hour? I’m conflicted. :-)