Here's a paradox: Ahead of one of the most important elections in U.S. history, Americans aren't watching much TV.
Ratings for last week's presidential debate were "mediocre," drawing in around 52.4 million viewers, well below the record-setting debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, which was watched by 80.6 million people.
Katie Couric's incredibly uncomfortable interviews with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin have given the CBS news anchor only a modest ratings bump, according to the New York Times. Couric's ratings shot up roughly 10 percent from the previous week, but ratings were still down from the same week last year. It's not a total loss, though. Videos of Couric's interviews have collectively attracted millions of viewers online -- that's probably small comfort to network executives, who typically reap much richer profits off network television than they do from online videos.
And while the major networks held out hope that a new season, and a slate of new programs, would help win back viewers lost in the writers strike last year, the ratings for season premiereshave been disappointing. An average of 9 million people watched prime-time season premieres on the top five broadcast networks last week, and that represents a 4.3 percent drop from the same week last year, according to Nielsen Media Research (via the Wall Street Journal).
NBC saw a 16 percent drop in viewers and CBS' viewer numbers fell close to 10 percent, according to the report. The premiere of ABC's "Grey's
Anatomy," drew in 18.5 million people, down close to 12 percent from the first episode of last year's season, according to the Wall Street
Journal.
"There is a lot more diversity in how video is being watched.
Networks all offer programming on their own sites, and there are many ways for people to catch up on shows. So the context needs to be reconsidered," says James Goss, an analyst with Barrington Research.
"But I'm a firm believer that when the dust settles, professionally created programming is going to be valuable -- it's just a question of how it will be watched and the economic model surrounding the programming."
The one bewildering exception to the rule: Ratings for "Saturday Night Live" are up for the season, well ahead of last year's ratings. The third show of the season averaged a 6 overnight rating, up
46 percent from 4.1 last year. That's largely thanks to former SNL writer Tina Fey's appearances as Sarah
Palin and the fact that the show had a ratings slump last year.
Photo: Flickr/Grant Neufeld
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