Interesting Doctor Who in the USA ratings tidbit

[kilodalton]

….. juuuuust waiting for the final ratings on The Name of the Doctor and I will update my geeky ratings spreadsheet for you guys! (But fwiw, I’m 99% sure those were the WORST finale overnights in NuWho history).

In the meantime, this is interesting. People have been super-hyping ‘DW is so popular in the US now ommggggggggggg’ for a while. BBCA

Comments

[ericadawn16]

Two million for cable/satellite is actually extremely good.

Don't forget that Supernatural and PBS are FREE. They naturally would have more viewers.

Plus, making it even more difficult for BBCA, many providers have made BBCA a premium channel that requires a more expensive package. Even the Teen Mom 2 finale special earlier this month only got 1.8 million.

[kilodalton]

Ehhh as merryghoul pointed out, Game of Thrones is ALSO getting more than twice what DW is getting - and it's on HBO!!

BBCA is a pretty cheap cable channel which comes bundled with pretty much all the other cheap channels, unlike HBO which is $$$ and you have to buy in a special movie package.

[ericadawn16]

Okay, Game of Thrones is a more fair comparison since I still have many friends who complain they cannot afford BBCA and/or cable period but they are able to watch the free channels including PBS and CW.

When I was looking back in 2006, DirectTv was the only carrier who had BBCA in its basic package. As far as I know, Dish still does NOT have it in its basic package.

[kilodalton]

Yeah I'm glad she pointed that out, it's definitely a more apples to apples comparison!

I just looked it up on the Dish network website, it's currently in the $34/month package and included in every package other than the rock-bottom-minimum package.

[ericadawn16]

Yep, I was referring to the rock bottom, bare minimum package because that is what I had with DirecTv when first signing up and they were the only one to have BBCA in it.

BBCA just doesn't do well in ratings period. Their original show Copper which was referred to as a massive hit last year had 1.8 million viewers when it debuted but only had a little over a million with each episode after that. The fall premiere of DW only had 1.5 million viewers which actually means that the spring premiere improved on that although the 2 million is including replays in its first 24 hours.

[kilodalton]

Yeah they're not really known as a 'show' channel. HBO is expensive, but it has a decades-long reputation for quality shows that people talk about, that sizzle, and that kind of make a (small) cultural impact - Sex and the City, the Sopranos, Game of Thrones. BBCA doesn't have that reputation to draw in viewers, even if they were to have them in their cable package you could probably go years (like me!!) and not even realize it lol.