How the audience returned, then left again – a ratings analysis of season 28

“Our ratings went up this season! If you look at things holistically. Individually, the later episodes’ ratings would’ve been higher if FOX didn’t schedule us against heavy competition, especially when there was a re-run against weaker competition the week prior!”

“The Simpsons”‘ 28th season was one of the few shows on broadcast TV this past season that saw its audience increase year-on-year (contrary to my calculations, but they’re probably wrong!), with its 18-49 figure improving ever so slightly. Both viewership overall and in the 18-49 demographic saw improvement from the boosts given to the show by football early in the season – and once that reliable lead-in had gone, the audience gains evaporated, and the show saw three new all-time lows in one season – and went fractional for the first time ever… twice.

Here’s a comparison to last season:

This season’s 18-49 rating average: 1.76
Last season’s 18-49 rating average: 1.74
This season’s overall viewership rating average: 4.147 million
Last season’s overall viewership rating average: 3.999 million
This season’s audience share average: 5.6%
Last season’s audience share average: 5.4%

EDIT: Now to add the ratings following catch-up. Live+3 ratings are defined by viewers watching on the night, and on catch-up over the next three days. Live+7 ratings are defined by viewers watching within seven days of broadcast.

18-49 average in Live+3 ratings: 2.0 (0.2 gain from Live+SD), #26 rank
Overall viewership average in Live+3 ratings: 4.637 million (490,000 gain), #90 rank

18-49 average in Live+7 ratings: 2.1 (0.1 gain from Live+3; 0.3 gain from Live+SD), #28 rank
Overall viewership average in Live+7 ratings: 4.838 million (201,000 gain from Live+3; 691,000 gain from Live+SD) , #90 rank

Here’s some other generic facts about this season’s ratings:

In live+same day ratings, “The Simpsons” was the 74th most-watched broadcast TV show last season in overall viewership, tied with “Dateline Saturday Mystery” on NBC, but ranked significantly higher in 18-49s, placing 15th (at 1.8), tied with CBS’ “Survivor”. This is an improvement on last season, which ranked 92nd and 35th respectively.

“The Simpsons” was also FOX’s second-highest-rated show this season, after the freefalling “Empire”.

One episode that aired in the fall was watched by under three million – the first time the show had an episode seen by fewer than three million in fall ever.

Three episodes in the season had fewer viewers than the lowest-rated episode last season (2.315m), with six below the 18-49 rating for the lowest-rated episode last season (1.04) – all said episodes being in the 2017 portion of the season.

Lowest 18-49 rating this season, and episode: 0.92, “The Caper Chase
Lowest overall viewership rating this season, and ep: 2.128 million, “The Caper Chase”

Highest 18-49 rating this season, and episode: 3.50, “Pork and Burns
Highest overall viewership rating last season, and ep: 8.187 million, “Pork and Burns”

Number of episodes with or above a 3.0 18-49 rating this season: Two – “Treehouse of Horror XVIII” (3.0) and “Pork and Burns” (3.2).
Number of episodes with or above a 3.0 18-49 rating last season: One – “Teenage Mutant Milk-Caused Hurdles” (3.6)

Number of episodes with a 2.0-2.9 18-49 rating this season: Four – “Friends and Family” (2.65), “The Last Traction Hero” (2.4), “The Nightmare After Krustmas” (2.3), “The Great Phatsby” (2.78)
Number of episodes with a 2.0-2.9 18-49 rating last season: Five

Number of episodes with a 1.0-1.9 18-49 rating this season: Eleven
Number of episodes with a 1.0-1.9 18-49 rating last season: Sixteen

Number of episodes below a 1.0 18-49 rating this season: Three – “The Caper Chase” (0.92), “Looking for Mr. Goodbart” (0.97), “Dogtown” (0.94)
Number of episodes below a 1.0 18-49 rating last season: None!

And now, just to be petty:

Number of times “Family Guy” beat “The Simpsons” this season: Seven times in 18-49s, twice in overall viewership.

That’s probably it for me until October 3rd! See you then!

Sources: TVBytheNumbers, SpottedRatings, TVSeriesFinale (all of whose calculations I’ve used, since I can’t rely on mine!)

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