Vulture has put together a rather colorful, but depressing infographic that puts in visual terms how terrible the ratings were for many network TV shows in the 2012 season.
While we fretted over the declining fortunes of American Idol, noting that many other returning shows saw declines compared to the 2011 puts things into perspective.
Only TWELVE returning shows saw increases vs last year. Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Grimm, Scandal, Parenthood, The Big Bang Theory, are a few of the scripted shows that rose. Shark Tank, The Bachelor, Biggest Loser, What Would You Do are amongst the reality shows that showed improvement.
Often, it’s the law of diminishing returns that rule a network show. After a point ratings begin to decline for every popular series at some point. But a whopping 90 shows saw declines, more than 50 by double digits! The networks collectively lost about 10% of the viewers in the key 18-49 demo.
Here are where a few of the shows we cover on the blog stand:
- Amazing Race -7%
- Survivor – -12%
- Glee – -13%
- The Voice – -14%
- X Factor – Wed – -18%
- X Factor – Thur – -19%
- DWTS Results – –23%
- American Idol – Thur – -23%
- American Idol – Wed – -26%
- Celebrity Apprentice – – 28%
- DWTS – – 29%
- Smash – -58% (Next to the last entry!)
