News Complete 1st Season to Air on CBS terrestrial in Sept

[BillJ]

Without it, we don't have a very major part of the picture and we're limited to just bias versus bias.

Obviously the show is hitting whatever viewer benchmarks that CBS is setting for it on All-Access. Which makes it a success. This run is essentially a freebie for CBS OTA, it is all gravy. The only place where the run might point to a problem is a shrinking cache among the general populace for Star Trek. The brand might not be growing.

 

[Quinton]

Pretty bad 18-49 demo. The Expanse was still pulling 0.25s on SyFy back when it was (quasi-)cancelled in 2018. The 1.7 million viewers bit is kind of funny, though. Really illustrates how old CBS skews. Using The Expanse as an example again, its 0.25s were matched with ~650k viewers in full.

Whether this is the result of most interested persons already having seen the show or candidly rough results or what, well, who can say for sure? I would venture to say it’s perhaps a mixture of both. And since most shows tend to drop in ratings after their debut, Discovery might be looking at a 0.1 and fewer than a million live viewers within a couple more weeks. Unfortunately, this is going to lead to more fuel for those unsavory YouTuber sorts, but it is what it is.

We can take some measure of obscure pride in the fact that ours is a television obsession with dismal on-air ratings and a fourth season pending production. LOL.

I will add, however, that yes — so long as the series remains successful in achieving whatever it is that CBS wants it to achieve on All Access — things are fine.

 

[Isaac Lawrence]

What do young people watch? YouTube and Twitch and TikTok?

I'm so old, I don't know what's cool anymore...

Star Trek was never a kid's thing though, I guess (and even though I started watching TOS reruns when I was like five none of my friends did). I am so curious about how they're going to do Prodigy, what are they going to do to try and make it work. Since it is going to be CG I would love it if it's done in that "The Girl Who Made The Stars" style.

But to get the 18 to 35 viewer... yep, that's forever the trick. And that's the variety angle I guess Alex Kurtzman is hoping will work. Give 'em Star Trek in all kinds of flavors and see what they like.

On the branding of Star Trek: yeah, nothing lasts forever. 50-odd years is a pretty damn good run. And the only way to keep it going is to re-invent it every so often. Do five-year missions. Flip it every five years, reboot it every five years, no ones paying attention anyway, no one cares.

Seriously though, Star Trek is apparently important to CBS and Paramount so if anything they're most likely going to throw money at it until it hurts.

 

[DaveyNY]

CBS has SIX Star Trek shows in some form of production right now.

Somehow, I don't think They're all that worried about low repeat ratings from a three year old episode.

 

[The Wormhole]

So let's see if I follow this thread. A three year old rerun which is available through many home media venues did poor ratings. Scandalous.

 

[Mudd]

So let's see if I follow this thread. A three year old rerun which is available through many home media venues did poor ratings. Scandalous.

I'm sorry. Low ratings on network broadcast are a good thing. A very good thing. Don't wish us into the cornfield!

 

[Quinton]

So let's see if I follow this thread. A three year old rerun which is available through many home media venues did poor ratings.

Yes, this is a correct statement. Only your last word, which I have omitted, is inaccurate.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm sorry. Low ratings on network broadcast are a good thing. A very good thing. Don't wish us into the cornfield!

It's not a "good" thing, but it also doesn't matter. DSC will continue on CBSAA whether you like it or not. Don't like Discovery? That's a "you" problem. There's still Picard, which I know you do like (so don't pretend as if you don't), and Strange New Worlds. And you don't seem to have a problem with Lower Decks either. So one series you don't like out of four? I'd say that's not bad. You can tough out this one series you don't like.

 

[JoseNoodles]

So let's see if I follow this thread. A three year old rerun which is available through many home media venues did poor ratings. Scandalous.

Kurtzman's gonna get fired for sure. I'm not kidding you this time.

 

[Noname Given]

QQ

Not that many people want to watch Trek on TV, which is why CBS didn't put it on broadcast to begin with. No matter what they do, it's not aging well at this point and younger viewers don't flock to it in numbers. Hell, they don't flock to CBS, period.

Broadcast TV in general isn't aging well at this point. While I don't think it will go away; streaming is starting to make a dent in the entertainment industry, and is allowing niche programming to thrive in a variety of ways.

But it's funny to me just because a 3 year-old episode - which was broadcast on CBS originally back in 2017, was available online for free; and is part of a popular series streaming on CBS all access - only got 1.7 million viewers at a 10:00 p.m. time slot on a Thursday - that somehow equates to:

"No one wants to watch Star Trek on TV anymore..."

(Oh and by the way there's a cable network in Canada that also disputes this claim, and Star Trek Discovery has been sold in syndication in England; but hey what are facts right?)

The fact is people like Star Trek and want to watch it. How they watch it really doesn't matter. The fact that there are currently three Star Trek related series in production; and Emmy award-winning series of Star Trek shorts made in between seasons of these three series; and two more live-action Star Trek related TV series and pre-production...

Yeah no one wants to watch Star Trek anymore. Riiight.

 

[BillJ]

(Oh and by the way there's a cable network in Canada that also disputes this claim, and Star Trek Discovery has been sold in syndication in England; but hey what are facts right?)

Well, I mean, lots of bad shows get sold into syndication. So I'm not sure of the point here? I imagine Discovery will eventually be in syndication here (USA) somewhere down the road. Syndication now is mainly cheap time filling material.*

*Not a slam at the show, just the truth of the matter. No matter the show, it has to be cheap enough for limited commercial revenue to cover.

 

[BillJ]

Does anyone know what reruns normally do for CBS in the Thursday night at 10pm slot? Plus, the only people that had anything to lose in this were the 11pm newscasts who didn't have much of a lead-in audience.

 

[johnjm22]

Does anyone know what reruns normally do for CBS in the Thursday night at 10pm slot? Plus, the only people that had anything to lose in this were the 11pm newscasts who didn't have much of a lead-in audience.

Not sure, but ABC had 'The Match Game' on at the same time and got twice as many views.

Here's the average ratings for CBS shows for 19/20:
https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/cbs-2019-20-season-ratings/

Not a single one of them did worse than .42

 

[johnjm22]

Ratings of shows CBS recently cancelled:
God Friended Me (cancelled) 0.64 6.2M
Man with a Plan (cancelled) 0.70 5.8M
Carol's Second Act (cancelled) 0.63 4.9M
Tommy (cancelled) 0.49 4.9M
Broke (cancelled) 0.61 4.7M

Discovery's .2 1.7M looks truly terrible.

 

[Isaac Lawrence]

Does anyone know what reruns normally do for CBS in the Thursday night at 10pm slot? Plus, the only people that had anything to lose in this were the 11pm newscasts who didn't have much of a lead-in audience.

The ratings seem to be more or less the same.

Looking at just September for example...

September 3rd:

10:00 p.m.
ABC – To Tell the Truth (season finale) Viewers: 2.86 million (#1), A18-49: 0.4/ 3 (#1)
CBS – Love Island Viewers: 1.46 million (#3), A18-49: 0.3/ 2 (#2)
NBC – Law & Order: SVU (R) Viewers: 1.94 million (#2), A18-49: 0.2/ 1 (#3)
—–
10:30 p.m.
ABC – To Tell the Truth (season finale) Viewers: 2.78 million (#1), A18-49: 0.4/ 3 (#1)
CBS – Love Island Viewers: 1.38 million (#3), A18-49: 0.3/ 2 (#2)
NBC – Law & Order: SVU (R) Viewers: 2.06 million (#2), A18-49: 0.2/ 2 (#3)

Source: Nielsen Media Research

September 10th:

10:00 p.m.
ABC – Shark Attack Viewers: 1.70 million (#3), A18-49: 0.3/ 2 (#2t)
CBS – Bull (R) Viewers: 1.71 million (#2), A18-49: 0.3/ 1 (#2t)
NBC – Sunday Night Football (Houston at Kansas City) – season premiere Viewers: 1.58 million (#1), A18-49: 5.3/29 (#1)
—–
10:30 p.m.
ABC – Shark Attack Viewers: 1.75 million (#3), A18-49: 0.2/ 1 (#3)
CBS – Bull (R) Viewers: 2.04 million (#2), A18-49: 0.3/ 2 (#2)
NBC – Sunday Night Football (Houston at Kansas City) – season premiere Viewers: 13.52 million (#1), A18-49: 4.6/28 (#1)

Source: Nielsen Media Research

September 17th:

10:00 p.m.
ABC – Match Game (R) Viewers: 2.07 million (#1), A18-49: 0.4/ 2 (#2)
CBS – Love Island Viewers: 1.90 million (#2), A18-49: 0.5/ 3 (#1)
NBC – Law & Order: SVU (R) Viewers: 1.75 million (#3), A18-49: 0.2/ 2 (#3)
—–
10:30 p.m.
ABC – Match Game (R) Viewers: 2.22 million (#1), A18-49: 0.4/ 2 (#2)
CBS – Love Island Viewers: 1.86 million (#2), A18-49: 0.5/ 3 (#1)
NBC – Law & Order: SVU (R) Viewers: 1.84 million (#3), A18-49: 0.3/ 2 (#3)

Source: Nielsen Media Research

And September 24th:

10:00 p.m.
ABC – Match Game (time period premiere) Viewers: 3.00 million (#2), A18-49: 0.2/ 1 (#3)
CBS – Star Trek: Discovery (network premiere) Viewers: 1.65 million (#3), A18-49: 0.2/ 1 (#3)
NBC – Dateline Viewers: 3.16 million (#1), A18-49: 0.5/ 3 (#1)
—–
10:30 p.m.
ABC – Match Game (time period premiere) Viewers: 2.82 million (#2), A18-49: 0.5/ 3 (#1t)
CBS – Star Trek: Discovery (network premiere) Viewers: 1.70 million (#3), A18-49: 0.2/ 1 (#3)
NBC – Dateline Viewers: 3.61 million (#1), A18-49: 0.5/ 3 (#1t)

Source: Nielsen Media Research

In August or July or whenever the numbers may be different; I don't know, I didn't check. But yeah, it looks to be doing about what CBS does at 10 o'clock on Thursday.

Of course, the guy in the mask on YouTube says it's doing horrible, so I dunno... And if you can't trust a guy in a mask on YouTube who can you trust?

 

[DaveyNY]

Ratings of shows CBS recently cancelled:
God Friended Me (cancelled) 0.64 6.2M
Man with a Plan (cancelled) 0.70 5.8M
Carol's Second Act (cancelled) 0.63 4.9M
Tommy (cancelled) 0.49 4.9M
Broke (cancelled) 0.61 4.7M

Discovery's .2 1.7M looks truly terrible.

Heh ... kinda weird comparing the ratings of a three year old TV episode from a show
STILL IN PRODUCTION, to brand new shows that have been cancelled.

I'm thinkin' that says a whole lot more about the new shows, rather than the Trek one.
As in, they sucked.

 

[SJGardner]

I don't see what the problem is. If one has seen a show, possibly multiple times, on the streaming service they are paying for, why would they want to watch a rerun of it on terrestrial TV where the network decides for them when to watch it, and they also get to enjoy feature-length ad breaks every ten minutes? To be honest, network TV doesn't really seem all that great when one has alternatives.

 

[Guy Gardener]

CBS AA has 4 million subscribers.

11 and a 1/2 million people watch NCIS.

Theoretically that's 7.5 million people who might subscribe to CBS AA (for a month) if they want to forego the terrestrial broadcast and watch the rest of the season.

 

[Tuskin38]

Ratings of shows CBS recently cancelled:
God Friended Me (cancelled) 0.64 6.2M
Man with a Plan (cancelled) 0.70 5.8M
Carol's Second Act (cancelled) 0.63 4.9M
Tommy (cancelled) 0.49 4.9M
Broke (cancelled) 0.61 4.7M

Discovery's .2 1.7M looks truly terrible.

Yes, but cable TV isn’t their main platform. And it must be making money or they would have cancelled it.

 

[KepperC]

CBS AA has 4 million subscribers.

Sure it is a lot more now.