One night of the week is becoming the island of hope for niche TV shows. With the top broadcast networks moving little-watched shows to Fridays, the evening is becoming a testing ground for niche programs to see whether they can make it on a night with few viewers, reports Bloomberg.
"Community," the NBC comedy, will shift to Fridays in September, as will Fox’s "Touch" and ABC’s "Last Man Standing."
"Fridays offer networks a chance to turn the commercial-skipping DVR to their advantage. They get paid for ads that are viewed on DVRs, even partly, within three days of the airdate. A day later they get nothing. The idea with the schedule shift is that viewers, especially the younger ones marketers like, catch up on shows on the weekend, providing a ratings and revenue boost to shows that air on Friday," the story notes.
While "Community" attracted just 2.75 million viewers a night this season through April, the show jumped to 4.12 million viewers when DVR viewing was added in, the story points out.
When will the Networks understand that it does not matter what day of the week a show is on. If I like a show, my DVR will record it and I will watch it on my schedule not theirs.
Most of the shows I watch, I could not tell you when they originally air during the week. Most of the time I don’t even remember what network or channel the were on, nor do I care.
Networks need to understand that the Neilson system of ratings is out of date and should not be applied to most shows. I bet a show like Fringe, if taken all the views of DVR watchers would not be getting canceled next year. I believe people that watch shows like these tend to watch through a DVR or stream it on line.
Lets stop canceling good shows, and get rid of crap that is poorly produced.
While what you say applies to you (and to me). We’re still not at a point where it applies sufficiently to be the basis for keeping or canceling a show. DVR ratings are used, so no, Fringe is still low rated (and yes, I watch Fringe and agree that it’s time to go). Things will change, but it’s not quite time yet.