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. 🙂

Dancing with the Stars Season 14, Week 2 – Ratings Watch

Another week, another post on the on-going ratings saga.  As I predicted last week, DWTS is sticking to the pattern and is down slightly from the premiere – but it’s still the number two show for the week in total viewers, and number 9 in the key demographic.  I got all my Nielsen information from Zap2It, as usual.

If you click that link you will see that while DWTS gets beat in the key demo by the Voice, American Idol and a few others, part of the reason for it falling from number 6 to number 9 (3.5 to 3.2) is two very large basketball games.  It definitely holds its own.  The key demo is the 18-49 year olds which advertisers covet.  The higher you are in the key demo, the more money you can earn for commercial time during your show.  Hence – the continued appearance of Disney kids and beefcake in the DWTS cast each season. 🙂   Anyway, DWTS had a 3.2 share in the key demo this week versus a 5.3 for AI and a 4.5 for the Voice.  The sky still isn’t falling as that difference between AI and DWTS equates to roughly 2.7 million viewers.  Sounds like a lot…but when the total viewers number is over 17 million? Not so much.  Yeah, yeah, yeah…the advertisers look at the key demo as being more important. Whatever. The point of these posts are to provide context to those who just say “DWTS ratings are down” while neglecting to mention that TV is down as a whole AND to show that while the ratings are down, DWTS ain’t going nowhere anytime soon.  Not when they are ranked number 2 over all and number 9 in the demo.

Take a gander at the Top 25 shows on Television, Week ending April 1 (corresponding to DWTS Week 2):

AI is nipping at DWTS heels, but the real surprise is the Voice falling rather precipitously from 16 million viewers before DWTS started to not quite 12 million viewers now. I have a feeling they may tinker a bit with the battle rounds next time around.  Anyway, next week will be the real test when the Voice moves to live shows where people can vote.  Interestingly, the DWTS results show is ranking rather high right now.  The total viewers at 15.6 may be a similar number to the old “normal”, which means it’s holding viewership better than the performance show is. Weird. I’ll have to write on that next week and see if that’s true or not.

Lastly, my little graph showing DWTS ratings this season compared to seasons past.  Not to much to say about that….without looking at the chart above, it lacks context by itself. 🙂

Dancing with the Stars Season 14, Week 1 – Ratings Watch

You remember when I threatened a weekly look at the DWTS ratings to counter the chicken littles’ of DWTS reporting??  The ratings are falling the ratings are falling!! Well, this is it. 🙂 In case you missed my first post on this subject, you can find it here —> DWTS Ratings Watch

As I’ve said, every week of every season someone cries “the ratings are down” and then they give a whole host of reasons ranging from their favorite pro being absent, to their favorite celeb (often someone I’ve never heard of) not being included, to the current cast being filled with no one and being “unexciting”.  Well, being a numbers nerd, it was a very simple thing to look at the ratings and reach the obvious conclusion.  Look at these ratings from last week (Zap2it):

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Dancing with the Stars – Ratings Watch

As a blogger, I get a lot of my ideas for things to write on twitter or other websites. Often, my ideas are a result of reading things that I know just aren’t true, either in my gut or by knowledge of facts. This series is no different. When I’m not playing Devil’s Advocate, I’m attempting to debunk some crazy hyperbole that I’ve read out on the web. Just call me contrary. 🙂 It’s my way. Anyway, one of the things that I read on a semi-regular basis is a phrase similar to: “Well, DWTS’ ratings just aren’t that good anymore” or “the rating are way down”. The former is, well – wrong. Or at the very least, seriously in need of CONTEXT. The latter? Well, that would be a bit of hyperbole. They are on a downward trend, compared to previous seasons…but when you are maintaining your top ten status (which certainly means that most TV is down as a whole), does it really matter?? Let’s face it – there are a lot of different ways to watch TV programs these days and I ain’t talking DVR. Not only is there On Demand, but there is the web.

But I digress. Let’s look at the average seasonal ratings for all seasons of DWTS up to this point.

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