Week-to-week gains: Dateline (Sunday edition).
Week-to-week losses: The Office, Grimm, Parks and Recreation, Community, Deception, Whitney, 1600 Penn, The Biggest Loser, Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, Rock Center with Brian Williams, and Fashion Star.
These are the NBC TV show ratings averages as of the end of week 25 of the 2012-13 season (Sunday, March 17, 2013). Ratings are typically the best way to tell if a show will be cancelled or renewed.
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| NBC scripted TV shows | 18-49 demo rating (actual) |
Viewers in millions |
Ratings pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revolution | 3.1 (3.09) | 8.37 | season 1 ratings |
| The Office (last season) | 2.1 (2.07) | 4.17 | season 9 ratings |
| Go On | 2.1 (2.05) | 5.62 | season 1 ratings |
| Chicago Fire | 1.9 (1.86) | 6.58 | season 1 ratings |
| Parenthood | 1.8 (1.84) | 4.98 | season 4 ratings |
| Law & Order: SVU | 1.8 (1.75) | 6.38 | season 14 ratings |
| Grimm | 1.7 (1.65) | 5.16 | season 2 ratings |
| Parks and Recreation | 1.6 (1.64) | 3.38 | season 5 ratings |
| The New Normal | 1.6 (1.62) | 4.28 | season 1 ratings |
| 30 Rock (last season) | 1.4 (1.37) | 3.64 | season 7 ratings |
| Community | 1.3 (1.33) | 3.07 | season 4 ratings |
| Guys with Kids | 1.3 (1.31) | 3.74 | season 1 ratings |
| Deception | 1.3 (1.30) | 3.65 | season 1 ratings |
| Whitney | 1.3 (1.30) | 3.81 | season 2 ratings |
| 1600 Penn | 1.2 (1.24) | 3.17 | season 1 ratings |
| Up All Night | 1.2 (1.24) | 3.01 | season 2 ratings |
| Animal Practice (cancelled) | 1.2 (1.22) | 4.22 | season 1 ratings |
| Smash | 1.0 (0.98) | 3.48 | season 2 ratings |
| Do No Harm (cancelled) | 0.8 (0.80) | 2.67 | season 1 ratings |
| NBC non-scripted TV shows |
18-49 demo rating (actual) |
Viewers in millions |
Ratings pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Voice (Fall, Mon) | 4.4 (4.35) | 12.34 | cycle 3 ratings |
| The Voice (Fall, Tues) | 4.0 (4.01) | 11.48 | cycle 3 ratings |
| The Biggest Loser | 2.3 (2.28) | 6.03 | cycle 14 ratings |
| Take It All | 1.5 (1.50) | 4.84 | season 1 ratings |
| Betty White’s Off Their Rockers | 1.5 (1.48) | 5.14 | season 2 ratings |
| Dateline (Fri) | 1.3 (1.32) | 5.18 | season 22 ratings |
| Dateline (Sun) | 1.3 (1.26) | 5.75 | season 22 ratings |
| Rock Center with Brian Williams | 1.0 (1.01) | 3.99 | season 2 ratings |
| Fashion Star | 0.8 (0.75) | 2.86 | season 2 ratings |
These charts incorporate the daily final NBC show ratings (reported by Nielsen) and are sorted by the 18-49 demographic. Network advertisers typically prize those viewers most and so will pay more to reach them. There’s lots of information that the networks take into consideration when cancelling or renewing a TV series but the ratings are the biggest factor. The higher the ratings, the better chance that the show will be renewed. And yes, they take it into account when a show airs on a Friday or Saturday night.
What do you think? Are you surprised by any of the averages? Which show(s) do you feel should be doing better or worse, based on their quality? Comment below.
It would also be a much better indicator to rank the shows according to their actual ratings, rather than the NBC-spin-friendly ageist demo numbers.
The average ratings don’t do justice to the sharp drop most NBC shows have “enjoyed” this year.
When your “big show” is Revolution which has gone done to 7 million viewers, you know you’re in trouble.
Look for NBC to keep its development staff intact and entrust them with another year of great TV shows… 🙁