ABC is joining Fox in a move that I can see the remaining networks taking on given the current state of network TV ratings. ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke announced that ABC will no longer be sending out Nielsen Live+Same Day ratings figures for the network’s programming that isn’t live. The new policy began today.
The first stream of ratings date that ABC will look at is Live+3 data, followed by Live+7 and Multiplatform+35 Day program ratings, Burke said. She made the announcement in a memo to staff after the network brass had just received the first week of MP35 data for the current season. According to Burke, it showed that nearly all of ABC’s shows at least tripled their audience versus L+SD. The delayed viewership was up 30% vs. last year and up 56% vs. the year prior. Here is what Burke said about the data change:
“This move aligns us with how we evaluate the comprehensive performance of our shows, how we monetize our business and how our audience chooses to consume our content. People used to plan their lives around television, now they plan television around their lives.”
Honestly, it’s a little absurd that networks are just adapting to these changes. Networks like the younger-skewing CW, have been looking at the results beyond linear numbers for a while now and the Big Four networks are just catching up. ABC is following Fox, which in 2015 became the first broadcast network to officially drop Live+Same Day ratings reporting under then Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Dana Walden. She is now chairman of Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment after the Disney-Fox merger. I wouldn’t be surprised if the other remaining networks didn’t follow suit soon.
ABC did lay out some numbers to show why the change in viewing data was necessary. In total viewers, eight of ABC’s premieres delivered at least 10 million viewers, led by The Good Doctor, growing to 17.2 million viewers, after 35 days of delayed viewing across all platforms, and Grey’s Anatomy (16.6 million). They are being followed by Stumptown (12.8 million), A Million Little Things (11.5 million), Emergence (11.3 million), Modern Family (11.3 million), The Rookie (11.1 million) and The Conners (10.4 million).
It should be noted that exempt from this kind of reporting is the network’s live programming like sports, or the recent The Little Mermaid Live!, which scored well in L+SD ratings.
