Networks are being challenged now with the report of a viewership drop for its TV shows. Losing viewership is bad for any TV program as it will lead to cancellations.
It has become a trend now that the TV shows in networks will start strong but will lose viewers over time. This resulted to the cancellation of the next season with hanging stories for some loyal viewers. Also, the effect of cancellation of TV shows makes viewers think if it is worth their time watching the show only to find out it will be cancelled.
According to Business Insider, Pacific Crest analyst has seen a drop in viewership on TV shows last quarter. With the use of the L+3 measurement or live plus three days, "average viewership for the top 200 general entertainment series declined 20% year-over-year," analyst said.
In addition to this, not only do TV shows in the 18-49 demo have declined with viewership, Pacific Crest noticed a 30 percent dive of viewership with kid's shows for the top 500 series. The decline of viewership on TV programs is bad for the companies who advertise its products on TV.
Pacific Crest pointed out some media companies who directly suffered from the decline of TV show's viewership. For instance, TV network AMC is challenged with the original series being offered by other networks. Another network that suffers is Lionsgate. The poor engagement with key movie titles is the cause of the negative result.
According to TV CheatSheet, there are TV shows that could be cancelled due to declining viewership. NBC's "Maya and Marty in Manhattan" did not retain its solid premiere with 6.26 million viewers, the viewership dive to 3.94 million viewers.
CBS' "MacGyver" is on the edge of canceling the show as the demo score and viewership both declined. Although the TV show was strong for its first four seasons, NBC's "The Blacklist" is also in danger. The series has received low ratings of 1.1 score in the 18-49 demo.
There is an increase of original TV shows but with decreasing viewers, it is something that TV networks should anticipate. Most likely, there will come a time that the networks have to end a certain TV show but it's wiser if the networks will end the program properly to not lose even its avid viewers.
