Today’s number: 3.3 million
Thursday, Jun 21, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Justin Bieber’s show last night was said to be a total bust…
Justin Bieber has been sold to us in forceful amounts, but maybe it’s not working after all. His TV special last night on NBC, “All Around the World,” was a bust. For an 8pm show aimed at pre-teens, it finished fourth out of five shows at that hour. Bieber got a very lackluster 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demo and scored just 3.3 million viewers– about half the number of top rated “So You Think You Can Dance” on Fox. It was also beaten by “Dogs in the City.”
* But Bieber’s 3.3 million viewership was still way more than any of the cable TV news networks attracted Tuesday night at 8pm Eastern…
Discuss.
- Inconsistent - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:07 pm:
Most of the cited cable network shows have new episodes each night, or often a minimum of once a week year-round. Any show that is on practically every day is not going to get anywhere near the ratings of a one-time special on a major network in prime time. Apples to oranges.
- Just sayin' - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:07 pm:
Proof that Western Civilization is so screwed.
- ZC - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:15 pm:
Those tweens, they are fickle.
“Bieber? He’s -so- last year … I love One Direction!!” *gush*
- Rob - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:16 pm:
>Discuss.
Just curious…Why? Doesn’t seem to fit the usual mode of conversation here…
- Responsa - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:17 pm:
well duh! the Cubs and Sox were on TV.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:18 pm:
Rob, I hate cable TV news and its outsized importance to our politics. Bieber supposedly crashed and burned, and yet his show attracted way more viewers than any cable news show.
- Nice Kid - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:26 pm:
As crappy as JB is an an entertainment source, he is still better than cable “news.”
- Shore - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:30 pm:
don’t think it’s a fair comparison. Bieber is literally a rockstar to 10s of millions of american kids who are on summer break. what was the big story last night on cable news-joe walsh trashing eric holder?
anderson cooper is awful. Hope he goes soon.
- NIref - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:36 pm:
And yet, Dish wants to pull AMC.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:42 pm:
Solution: A new show named “City Dogs Tragically Dance Their Way To The Bottom By Trampsing Across The World.”
(I see a role for our President in that somewhere, too.)
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:43 pm:
Sorry. That should have been “Traipsing.”
- Jeff Trigg - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:50 pm:
People like escapism more than hearing the reality of the shape the world is in. Not that cable TV news is reality, its just dumbed down partisan talking point trash. Most people have dropped out of caring about the rest of the world, so they watch Bieber.
The Problem of Political Ignorance
http://youtu.be/Jk62VObQEtI
- wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 1:54 pm:
Geez. Talk about missing the point.
Let me try. Lady Gaga has 20 million Twitter followers. 2.7 million sad, perpetual victims watch Bill O’Reilly. Who’s more influential?
- In 630 - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 2:12 pm:
I see this numbers and all I wonder if Fox News viewers lack other interests. There’s a wealth of entertaining and sometimes even informative options on TV, yet people are opting for a nightly dose of Bill O’Reilly?
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 2:25 pm:
How many 14 year olds know NBC exists?
- Choice? - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 2:56 pm:
O’Reilly has that many viewers? The way people bad mouth him I didn’t think that many people watched. Might have to check out what it’s all about.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 2:57 pm:
=Who’s more influential?=
You’re right, word.
Lady Gaga for President in 2012! (lol)
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 3:04 pm:
Who is Justin Bieber?
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 3:27 pm:
What were the ratings for Bristol Palin’s reality show that premiered Tuesday?
- Judgment Day - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 3:52 pm:
Apples to Oranges.
JB is a ’show’ format for a set duration (probably 90 minutes to 2 hours). Cable tends to be a running series, and all you did was to identify specific segments of a typical cable run, and then make your comparisons. If this was an appraisal, you cherry picked, and by doing so, skewed your comparables.
It’s like saying to advertisers “You would be better off advertising at JB’s show rather than on “The O’Reilly Factor” because of 1 time viewer numbers.
And their response would be, “Ok, let’s have JB produce those same numbers night-after-night for a full quarter and then we’ll talk”.
A more fair comparison would be to look at cable vrs. television, but the trends and demographics favor cable.
- anon - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 3:55 pm:
I love “Dogs in the City”, and I can’t wait for the sequel, “Released Violent Criminals in the City” starring Gary Forby.
- ArchPundit - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 4:04 pm:
Rich left out that the cable news audience is geezeriffic. Click the link and notice how the 25-54 demo is even worse for cable news. The average age is somewhere around ancient and fossilized.
- Kerfuffle - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 4:22 pm:
When this column resorts to reports about Justin Bieber I know it must be a very slow news day!
- Amuzing Myself - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 4:23 pm:
Seriously, who cares?
- Kerfuffle - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 4:25 pm:
Wordslinger - most of the 20 million Gaga tweeters are too young to vote and the rest probably aren’t interested. The 2.7 million that watch O’Reilly do vote. They are more influential when it comes to the things that matter.
- Judgment Day - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 4:27 pm:
“Rich left out that the cable news audience is geezeriffic. Click the link and notice how the 25-54 demo is even worse for cable news. The average age is somewhere around ancient and fossilized.”
MOST/ALL the audience for the news shows (cable and non cable) is increasingly ancient and fossilized. When you have ever increasing reliance on the Internet for news, well, that’s why the entire advertising, news, newspaper, and entertainment businesses are all becoming so ‘unstable’ - well, their carefully honed business models are failing. Too bad.
The real issue are (1) What, if anything can JB do to create momentum (please, no); 2) Why are advertisers wasting their money in declining, unstable markets promoting products that are viewed by fewer and fewer people (and now that you can digitally archive and auto skip commercials, why waste your promotions budget).
Maybe a good QOTD would be as to what the next career should be/would be qualified for most of the existing cable/television news personalities.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 4:30 pm:
And Kerfuffle’s conclusion supports the numbers I came up with.
- Judgment Day - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 4:42 pm:
Here’s what to be paying attention to:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47910324
“Microsoft and Madison Avenue are in a battle unlike anything we’ve seen for years.
They’re fighting over the future of Internet advertising, and the $70 billion annual global ad business is at stake.
It all comes down to one little default setting—Do Not Track – in a new browser, Internet Explorer 10.
Microsoft is defaulting to a ‘Do Not Track’ setting to give web surfers more privacy, looking to regain market share from Google’s Chrome.
But this has advertising agencies up in arms – this will make it impossible for them to target ads to millions of users.”
Advertising on blogs is going to become more and more popular - be one of the few growth ways to reach people. That’s why all the schemes for moving to charge for TV and cable will become less and less viable.
- Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 5:13 pm:
If Gaga demanded pension reform, they’d be back at the Capitol tomorrow.
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 5:27 pm:
Lady Gaga fan demographics (not too young to vote) http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/lady-gaga-provokes-mixed-brand-reaction-18330/networked-insights-lady-gaga-demographics-july-2011jpg/
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 6:18 pm:
For you non-geezers, the Beebs is on again tonight at 7. AA will pass on that and all the cable babblers and watch the NBA finals pre-pre-pre-game show.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 6:26 pm:
AA, I’m with you. There’s a lot of firepower out on the court.
Durant reminds me of Magic, but he can score more.
D-Wade, straight out of Richards High and Marquette, can take over at any moment.
And I hate to tell the haters, but Lebron just hit his stride. He found his Michael game in these playoffs. The dude is a defensive stud. Why he wasn’t on Durant in Game One is beyond me.
- amalia - Thursday, Jun 21, 12 @ 6:55 pm:
here’s hoping that teens are listening to something else. new Smashing Pumpkins youngsters?
- John A Logan - Friday, Jun 22, 12 @ 8:28 am:
Justin Bieber has always looked like a young Blagojevich impersonator to me, helmet hair and all. To the point, I would like to see Justin Bieber host the O’Reilly show and O’rielly do the London concert. Just imagine Bill O’Reilly in the leather pants and jacket, gut hanging out singing in a falsetto. That would be a ratings bonanza. Or bieber interviewing Geraldo about some non issue. “question Mr. Rivera…..in their prime, whom was the bigger child star, Ashley or Mary Kate Olsen?”