From PIfeedback:



Since the NY thing is a random variable, it's difficult to say much except it appears to be slightly less than last week.

Here's hoping this week's crappy "kick-the-Chloe/all praise sidekick Lois" story sends them away in droves next week.

It's about a 7% drop from "Savior" which is actually the historical average drop from premiere to 2nd episode. However, this includes anyone who tuned in to watch the Mets/Houston game in NY/NJ/CT.

Now, I have no idea what the final numbers will be, the Mets are in 4th place and about 20 games out of first. However, I know sports fans will tune into watch their team play no matters what. So, who knows. I guess we'll see on Monday.

Combined screentime Savior + Metallo

Lois Lane: 34m, 8s
Clark Kent: 27m, 55s
Chloe Sullivan: 19m, 54s
Tess Mercer: 12m, 10s
Zod: 7m, 20s
Oliver Queen: 3m, 41s

Obviously having EDLois as the main character on Smallville isn't paying off, if we look at how the ratings/demos have plummeted. Looks like the much anticipated Noisville is a big flop.

Even though SV's overall numbers didn't drop that much (until the NYC preemption is factored in, of course) it's still incredibly low for an episode that featured a major DC character and an actor with a ready-made fanbase. Historically, those kinds of episodes have done better than others. I think it's likely that future episodes, which lack that pull, will do worse, not better. Plus, it scored only a 0.9 in the A18-49 demo, and we have yet to see how poorly it did in the CW's sweet spot, W18-34, once the final numbers come out.

I do think these numbers settle the question of whether the problem is the show itself, or its Friday time slot. Some viewers may not have known about the show's time switch last week, but by now, I'd say it's likely most people who want to watch the show know when it's on. Not only that, but this particular episode was pimped by TPTB for literally *months*, and they handed out screeners of the episode to every reviewer willing to write about it. On top of that, TV Guide gave it a huge last-minute push (as did my newspaper in Washington DC).

People knew the show was on; the problem is, they apparently just didn't want to watch it.

Even worse, it seems to me that TPTB don't have a lot of ammunition left to lure viewers. If Zod, Metallo, and Clark wearing the "S" didn't do it, nothing will, imo. Their lightswitched Cnois certainly doesn't seem to have helped, either (especially not in the 18-34 female demo, which is all that matters to the CW).



I know that's a big reason I'm not watching.

That's Clark's combined screentime average?? Wow. Did TW re-sign with the provision that he get more days off or something?



I agree. The timeslot may be a problem, but the viewer drop-off is likely the core fan base dropping the show. Also, I'm glad to hear the last-minute outreach to Chloe fans didn't pay off.

MartaDolores, its not screentime average, its the total screentime of those characters during these first two episodes of Season 9.

Lois is by far the most onscreen character, and she had the honor of being the first character who eclipsed Clark Kent's screentime during a premiere of Smallville.

Oops, that's actually what I meant. I don't know why I wrote average. But yeah, as a total that's pretty low for Clark. Doesn't he usually get 18-22 minutes per ep?

Yes he's very much under the average from past seasons.

For years, SV has heavily relied on the built-in ratings stunts their ties to DC (not to mention the Superman mythos itself) give them. So, need a ratings bump? Bring in the Flash, Supergirl, or Bizarro. Bring in the Fortress of Solitude, or hint at Clark flying (or pseudo-flying). Or introduce Doomsday or Lois Lane. (The one I was most excited about, which is hard to believe in hindsight.)

The thing about ratings stunts is they start to lose their impact after a while. For example, I got excited the first few times they brought in a DC/Superman character. But, by the 30th or 40th (an exaggeration, but not by much) it's hard to get too worked up. Especially since a lot of these stunts didn't exactly turn out all that great.

I just don't think going back to the DC well will give the show the same kinds of ratings boosts it used to.

What's odd is that I seem to remember AlMiles learnt that lesson back s4 after "Lucy" aired. Weren't PoS there for that revelation? Idiots.

You can thank twitter for that one... ;)

Don't the numbers include DVR? Most people these days have some kind of recorder, so it's not really even a matter of the show airing on a tough night. The interest just isn't there anymore. And those of us who HAVE stuck around and don't have any interest in The Lois Show won't be around for long if it keeps up.

The floor is 2M per Dawn O. BAG was stunt casting and they just cleared the floor. They've gone from 4M range to low 2M's. There should be no expectation IMO that ratings will go up based on past years. Dean Cain stunt casting was that rare exception but they've already taken their shot with BAG. Everyone else is C-list DC characters IMO. I don't expect the average for the year above 2M. Now, it's possible that these 2M are in fact die-hards who love Lois and her bouffant hairdo, Clois sex, or just optimistic completionists. If that is the case, then the storyline won't really matter. The casual viewers may have bailed already (this is by no means a given, just my speculation). As I've said before the real "steady-state" won't be achieved IMO until about EP6. By that time, there is no wiggle room on story direction - I think by that point this is the audience that will stay until the bitter end.

I have no doubt Dawn O will continue to praise SV move to Fridays as a good decision and will make some statements about being happy but IMO that's because all she wants is 2M. It'll be interesting what she says if it starts to dip below 2M in November. I don't expect that, BTW, but would like to see who starts blaming whom.

At this point, all the CW and pseudo-official pro-SV comments appear to be trying to divert negativity by talking about iTunes, DVRs, and other fringe topics. I realize TV viewing has shifted but my message to TPTB is: "Dudes, wake up and smell the numbers --- your stock is down --- perhaps S10 will be direct to DVD."

Again, too early to declare EPIC fail because the bar has been set so low. I'd have to see below 2M consistently for that but I hardly think the ratings reflect good news no matter what the CW says.

No. Those numbers come in later. The episode did what I expected. Lost about 200k.

What outreach was this?

Daily numbers include those who DVR before 3am (hence, why the daily ratings called "live + same day"). The full DVR numbers are not available until later, because naturally, Nielsen does not know on Saturday who's gonna watch, say, this Thursday. :D

It will be interesting to see Smallville's DVR numbers for this season. They'll show how many people aren't watching same day because of the timeslot (and are simply watching later), and how many people are actually gone after last season. Last season, DVR numbers were all over the place - numbers weren't publicly available for about 6 or 7 episodes last season, but of the ones that were, the average viewership was 4.60 million viewers. High: 5.02 million (Bloodline). Low: 4.09 million (Turbulence).

If they do have really good DVR numbers then I can see that keeping them on the air. Smallville will just have Clark drinking a lot of Gatorade to refresh himself after he saves someone. I don't know why more shows don't follow the Chuck model and get a big sponsor and work them into the show as much as possible. It's the only way TV will survive. Or come up with some form of program that doesn't allow you to fast forward through a commercial on DVR, but only have one commercial like they do on the internet.

The problem with that whole scenario is that the DVR #s would have to drastically change from last season. Last season the average dvr viewing added about 600-700,000 viewers. Unless huge increase over the last several months due to the day change, which I don't think is likely, that would bring the audience up to about 3.15-3.2 (which is still less then the first run episode of even Injustice last spring w/o dvr) But compare that to the 5+million w/DVR of Bloodline, or the 4.9+ of Power, Legion & Identity & the difference is substantial. Unless crazy change, the show has siphoned off nearly 40% of its viewers in 9 months (since Legion & Power) That is not a healthy show & people claiming the Itunes #s are so great on ksite are just trying to spin things. The truth is that Smallville had top 10 Itunes episodes last season as well, but wasn't used as justification for ratings dipping. The fact is that Smallville has lost a huge portion of its audience for a variety of reasons. 1) Its in its 9th season, 2) friday night time slot, 3) Lana & Lex fans left (I happen to be a Lana fan, who doesn't watch anymore), 4) I see that a lot of Chloe fans are pissed and many are probably trying to avoid the show as well. 5) Its just not Smallville anymore, everyone except Clark & Chloe are gone & Chloe is relegated to 2nd fiddle to Lois. You cant piss off 1/2 your fanbase & expect to have a successful show. If Lois Lane on Smallville were so popular that she demanded front and center placement on this show, there would be more interest than there is. The truth is that there just doesn't seem to be, despite what Craig @ K-Site & TV Guide want people to believe. ITS RATINGS, ITS ALWAYS RATINGS...They tell the true story of interest in a show & 2.39, which is likely going to drop, especially in the spring isn't good, no matter the night....

I may be a Lana fan, but I enjoy some of your guys & gals posts, so thought I would drop a line.....Adam

Nice to meet you, dollarman, glad you delurked!

Big fat WORD to your entire post - you pretty much said it all. And as bad as the rating currently are, they're destined to fall further next week when BAG exists stage left, and Zombie!Nois takes centre stage.

There was a Chloe screencap from Metallo that was released, which featured Chloe sitting in the DP at Lois's desk, with Lois's nameplate in full view. There was also talk of a Chlark reconciliation, which didn't quite cut it, as it turned out.

For those of you who asked for Clark's average screentime in past seasons (no season 1 avgs available), and how the main 5 (Clark, Lana, Lex, Chloe and Lois) did:

Season 9 (so far)
1st Lois 17.04 min
2nd Clark 13.58 min
3rd Chloe 9.59 min

Season 8
1st Clark 20.2 min
2nd Chloe 13.5 min
3rd Lois 12.5 min

Season 7
1st Clark 16.41 min
2nd Chloe 8.52 min
3rd Lex 8.51 min
4th Lois 8.01 min
5th Lana 6.41 min

Season 6 avg
1st Clark 17.09 min
2nd Lana 11.19 min
3rd Lex 10.05 min
4th Chloe 10.01 min
5th Lois 9.15 min

Season 5
1st Clark 20.04 min
2nd Lana 10.24 min
3rd Lex 9.20 min
4th Chloe 8.51 min
5th Lois 7.48 min

Season 4
1st Clark 21.51 min
2nd Lois 12.55 min
3rd Lana 9.17 min
4th Lex 8.58 min
5th Chloe 8.09 min

Season 3
1st Clark 22.19 min
2nd Lex 10.01 min
3rd Lana 9.24m
4th Chloe 6.42 min

Season 2
1st Clark 22.53 min
2nd Lana 9.30 min
3rd Lex 9.13 min
4th Chloe 5.37 min

Season 1 (no averages)
1st Clark
2nd Lex
3rd Lana
4th Chloe

Clark has had far and away the most screentime, but Season 9 started off on the wrong foot, and this without any Nois-centric episodes. When all 5 main characters were on the show, the typical screentime would be Clark with at least double the screentime of any other character, Lex and Lana as the big 3, and Chloe and then Lois as important supporting characters. Exceptions were Season 4 with Lois coming 2nd, and Season 7 with Chloe coming 2nd.
Season 8 brough Clark back up to the 20min range, but Season 9 not only reduced significantly his screentime so far, but has for the first time another character on top.

In the interest of accurate factual information, might I ask what data you're using to determine your 600-700k average? By my count, for 16 of 22 episodes (8.01-8.09, 8.11-8.16, and 8.18 - data was only available for these episodes), the average increase was 1.04 million viewers.

I found one more episode w/ DVR numbers, so for 16 of 22 episodes (those missing 6 episodes mean the data's incomplete, naturally), have some random statistics:
Average LIVE+7: 4.66 million viewers
Average Change LIVE to LIVE+7: 1.04 million viewers gained
Highest LIVE+7: 5.02 million viewers (Bloodline)
Lowest LIVE+7: 4.09 million viewers (Turbulence)
Largest LIVE+7 change: 1.27 million viewers gained (Eternal)
Smallest LIVE+7 change: 0.83 million viewers gained (Abyss)

So, again, it will be interesting to take last season's statistics and compare them to this season's once there's a few weeks worth of DVR data for this season. Until there's actual data, it is quite literally impossible to predict how different the average increase might be, given how many factors are at play here this season, most notably the new timeslot.

ScrappyTheOwl, do the networks and/or advertisers care about the DVR numbers? I ask because presumably the ads are skipped when the recorded show is viewed.

Here is where I got my analysis

*Smallville S8 Finals:
#1 Odyssey ~ *4.34 mil & Live+7= 4.80 mil.

#2 Plastique ~ *4.18 mil. & Live+7= 4.78 mil.

#3 Toxic ~ *4.05 mil. & Live+7= 4.61 mil.

#4 Instinct ~ *4.12 mil. & Live+7= 4.71 mil.

#5 Committed ~ *4.18 mil. & Live+7= 4.73 mil.

#6 Prey ~ *4.16mil. & Live+7= 4.75 mil.

#7 Identity ~ *4.32 mil. & Live+7= 4.99 mil.

#8 Bloodline ~ *4.46 mil. & Live+7= 5.02 mil.

#9 Abyss ~ *3.56 mil. & Live+7= 4.38 mil.

#11 Legion ~ *4.30 mil. & Live+7= 4.89 mil.

#12 Bulletproof ~ *3.85 mil. & Live+7= 4.54 mil.

#13 Power ~ *4.21 mil. & Live+7= 4.94 mil.

#14 Requiem ~ *3.93 mil. & Live+7= 4.60 mil.

#15 Infamous ~ *3.57 mil. & Live+7= 4.22 mil.

#16 Turbulence ~ *3.49 mil. & Live+7= 4.09 mil.

#17 Hex ~ *3.80 mil. & Live+7= 4.49 mil.

#18 Eternal ~ *3.85 mil. & Live+7= 4.55 mil.

Average for those 17 episodes 4.02 w/o dvr, w/dvr 4.65
There were no Live +7 for Bride, Stiletto, Beast, Injustice, Doomsday. In your results, you may have added the ratings for those episodes to drag the overall season rating down when compared to DVR. If those episodes had DVR, it would be about same as rest of episodes
Credit SparkleforSmallville from K-Site
***************************************
Yes we do need to wait for results for this season, but these #s match up with Season 7 as well in terms of DVR. The only possible change would be due to friday night, but I really ? how much more it will add as the shows ratings were down to 3.1 for doomsday anyway on a thursday last spring. I guess we will find out soon.....

Short answer, no they don't care about DVR numbers. Here is what TV by the Numbers has to say on the question:

But the advertising is bought and sold based on Nielsen data we almost never see, commonly referred to as C3 or C+3 which stands for live viewing of commercials plus three days worth of commercial viewing on DVRs. That’s right, they actually measure how many are watching the commercials.

So far as we can tell DVR viewing doesn’t meaningfully add to a networks ability to make money, and more people watching shows via DVR isn’t good news for the networks.

As you might expect, most people using DVRs usually avoid commercials. As of this writing our experience has been that the C3 data doesn’t differ significantly from the live viewing, and that the relative performance of shows using the live plus same day DVR viewing is a good proxy for predicting success or failure.
[I added the emphasis]

http://tvbythenumbers.com/numbers-102

Thank you, bpox. I guess that applies to iTunes sales as well.

Sounds like more or less yes, iTunes is largely irrelevant too:

The real problem here is that as of this writing, the networks haven’t figured out how to make much money on online viewing. iTunes downloads of specific episodes are much lower than many think. 30,000 downloads of an episode over a week, can, and more often than not does, catapult a show into the top downloads list.

Same FAQ: http://tvbythenumbers.com/numbers-102

Thanks for the info and that confirms what I have been trying to state on other sites. The discussion of dvr & itunes are completely overrated in justifying the ratings of Smallville. Again, if people don't watch commercials, why would sponsors really care about dvr. Itunes is especially ridiculous since Smallville again had good downloads last year with much higher tv ratings. And also really how many downloads are we talking about. The show lost 170,000 viewers from Savior to Metallo, just how many itunes will they sell? The bread & butter is the overnights. That is what has kept shows alive & killed shows.

Dollarman - Enjoyed your post. I agreed with a lot of your points.

The CW is like Ann Taylor, not Wal-Mart. - I've made this point before, but as much as people focus on ratings, the real topic of the thread is money since ratings are only important bc they are the main factor in determining ad rates. And whether ratings are good or bad can only be measured by whether they'll make $ for the network or not.

Bc the CW sells ads to ad buyers who want to reach female consumers, the female demos of CW shows correspond to how much $ the CW can make on a show. Just as Ann Taylor or L'oreal aren't interested in how many men see their ads bc those aren't their customers, likewise the CW doesn't care for male tv viewers bc they don't translate into $ for them with their customers. Hence, ANTM, OTH, Gossip Girl, & 90210 all made more money for the CW than Smallville did last year. Supernatural was the only show the CW renewed with lower ad rates than Smallville and I'm not sure that was still true by end of the season. It depends on how the female demos went and we don't have access to that info.

2008 Top Money Makers for the CW per 30 second ad

$103,714 ANTM
$67,908 One Tree Hill
$62,139 Gossip Girl
$58,347 90210
$54,323 Smallville

$48,942 Stylista - Canceled
$44,533 Everyone Hates Chris - Canceled
$37,982 Supernatural
$33,305 Privileged - Canceled
$29,583 The Game - Canceled

Source: http://tvbythenumbers.com/wp-content/uploa...cost-100608.pdf

2006 Top Revenue Earners for the CW per 30 second ad

$135,000 ANTM
$93,000 Gilmore Girls
$84,000 Smallville
$82,000 Everyone Hates Chris
$72,000 7th Heaven
$70,500 One Tree Hill
$66,000 Supernatural
$64,000 Girlfriends
$59,000 All of Us
$56,000 Runaway
$52,000 Veronica Mars
$51,000 The Game
$40,000 ANTM (Rerun)
$25,000 Friday Night Smackdown (WWE)

Source: http://adage.com/images/random/tvchart06.pdf

I don't know how much SV ads are selling for this season. Last season, EHC started at $44,533 and The Game started at $29,583. However, those ad rates would have been adjusted for performance and I don't know how much the ad rates ended up as, but I'm guessing pretty low since they were both canceled despite their low production costs.

Friday Night Smackdown which got much better young adult numbers and overall viewer numbers than Smallville is getting right now, was only able to make $25,000 per 30 second spot on Fridays back in 2006, when ad buyers were being more generous to set up a range of what the ad rates might be.

I will guess that Smallville ad rates are lower than SPN now (esp. as SPN's demos have improved this season after The Vampire Diaries on the more lucrative Thursday night) and Smallville's ad rates are probably currently the lowest ad rates on the CW network now that The Beautiful Life has been canceled.

W18-34 Demos correspond to ad rates on the CW and in that category, SV is dead last.



I'm sure the CW accountants are busy calculating just how low Smallville ratings can go before it begins costing them too much more than it is making them to continue. Smallville's production costs are quite high so really its fate is up in the air and I do think it's possible the bean counters will tell the CW to cancel it before the full 22 are done as the ratings in the Spring always go down, but the production costs stay the same which could hurt the CW's bank account very badly in the Spring. The O.C. had its episode count reduced in their last season bc their ratings were just too low. Of course, Fox had a tendency to swiftly cancel shows whereas the CW tends to leave shows on even if they cost them money.

Btw, I agree that DVR viewers are nearly worthless to networks bc ad buyers aren't idiots. They know full well that most people are going to ff'd through commercials on recorded shows so they're not going to pay much for those few folks who actually watch the commercials. People in the media follow the DVR ratings and cover them, but they do the same for Trending topics on Twitter. People may be interested in the information, but they don't translate into $ so business-wise they're basically irrelevant. Steve Wright made a very logical comment about product placement being a good way for the networks to take advantage of the DVR numbers but given the poor economy, it's possible the bottom has dropped out on the product placement market.

Great post Massena1, I found a lot of those facts really interesting. I had never known the amount the shows got for ads. When you look at the money from back in S5 that was back when they probably had more female fans around combined with higher overall ratings. Back then, Lana & Chloe were still around and relevant & creating interest in show. I don't know what the women ratings were back then but I know CW put out releases about women viewership for "Promise" from s6 and even "Power" this last year. Its has been discussed earlier in this thread or another that Clana & Chlark relationship appealed to women, especially younger women. Those viewers have gotten older & left the show now & are not interested in the way they present Lois or Clois. The women ratings seem to respond by being dead on arrival. .9 in w-18-34 when shows like GG & VD do 3x that. That can't be good for the network no matter what night it is on.

Massena1 thank you for all of that. That was really interesting and informative. I found it interesting that The CW's ad revenue rates are down across the board. For some shows they have almost halved between 2006 and 2008.

Ah, I see what you did, you were using the increase for LIVE+Same Day to LIVE+7 Day, whereas I was doing LIVE to LIVE+7D. Shows see quite an increase from LIVE to LIVE+Same Day.


Downloads actually don't make a lot of money, regardless of how many. If you're looking at revenue sources other than ad sales, there's more to consider, and downloads is far from the largest of them: DVD sales, domestic syndication profits (ABC Family's probably really screwed w/r/t Smallville - usually syndication deals stipulate they have to pay for each produced episode, regardless of whether they stop airing the show or not), international syndication profits, online downloads (iTunes, Amazon, etc.), etc. Too many variables beyond just ad sales, which is why renewal/cancellation decisions that may not make sense to fans make perfect sense to executives. Especially for a network like the CW, which is owned by the two companies that own its primary production studios.

"Overnights" refers to metered market ratings - it is definitely good to have great viewership in the key markets, but the demos are, as has been said many times in this thread, the actual bread and butter, so to speak.

Thanks for your post Massena, that was all very interesting. I'm a little stunned by ANTM's ad rates. I know it is/was a popular show, but I've never seen it before.

Nielsen is able to track which viewers fast-forward through commercials and which watch them, so the advertisers don't have to think about it all - they get numbers telling them how many watch the commercials and how many do not. Ad time is sold on the basic of C3: people who watch commercials only within 3 days of the airing. A viewer who watches the commercial within 3 days is the same as one who watches live, in terms of what it means for ad dollars*.

*Edit: wait, I need to correct myself. Some viewers are different; the relation between ratings and ad sales is far more complex than just "one commercial viewing equals X dollars" or "one point in a specific demo equals Y dollars". One advertiser for the CW, for example, might be looking for W18-34 viewers who are in college - this represents a small subset of Nielsen viewers, so if the CW is able to hit that group of people, this advertiser would be very pleased to put some money into those ads. Another advertiser looking to show an ad on the CW might be looking for F12-17 and W18-34 who are low-income (high-income viewers are not necessarily the most important - think of ads for affordable beauty products); if the CW has a show that hits that group, that advertiser is going to pay more to get their ad on that show.

(There have long been rumors that F12-17 is also an important demographic for the CW - understandable, since F12-17ers quickly grow up to be W18-34, and they tend to have the disposable income for the products CW most commonly advertises, like beauty products, clothing, and movies.)

When are the final ratings numbers for last Friday expected to be released?

ScrappyTheOwl - I was wondering where you heard this and how you think it applies to Smallville? I ask bc I was under the impression that ABC Family no longer airs Smallville episodes because their syndication deal expired after 2 years and it was not renewed. I would find it odd that ABC Family would still be paying for broadcast rights for Smallville episodes but not airing them. Originally, they were paying as much as 400k for broadcast rights per episode. I also think if ABC Family were still under some payment obligation for syndication rts for Smallville, they would have complained strenuously about the studio making those episodes available for free on the net at thewb.com which would certainly be considered a substantial change of circumstances.

In any event, revenue from syndication rights would only influence how much money WB, the studio, would make from the show, it would have no influence on the CW's bottom line.



For the networks, the issue is generally as simple as what one commercial on a show will earn the network. The CW use to try to make money with product placement and those awful brand wraps, but the bottom seems to have fallen out of that market for advertising revenue on tv shows for those extras hence not much Stride gum pimping on the show anymore. And I remember reading how much Stride paid for that extra and I don't remember the amount, but I do remember I was shocked at how little it was. It was basically just enough to pay for some FX in the episode and not much else.

Since The CW doesn't see any extra capital from DVDs, syndication etc. for them, it's all about the ad revenue. And the CW use to sell its ads in bundles (don't know if they still do) which would explain the strong correlation between the W18-34 demos and the ad rates for CW shows which helps them avoid make goods but also makes shows without female demos even less beneficial to them.



I agree with this point that the further breakdown of demos into income levels is very important. I've made that point myself about how certain shows doing well with affluent viewers makes them winners. "The West Wing" doing well with high income viewers is my usual example of this. "The Office" would be a current example of the same dynamic. It appeals to high income viewers. A sorta well known WB example was "Felicity." It stayed on the air an extra season bc while its overall numbers were weak for the network, it was a winner for the network with women under 30 earning more than $150,000 a year. I thought Felicity was great, but I did laugh at the time, that such a very small subgroup of viewers would be enough to keep it on the air and yet it did. I see the logic to it, but I still thought it was funny how few viewers were keeping the show on the air.

Income level and sex demos are the reason why ANTM and The Gilmore Girls were the CW's most important assets originally. High income women watched both hence they were the biggest earners for the CW. And high income women continue to watch ANTM which is why it can charge so much more than the other CW shows.

Finals are out for Metallo and shockingly enough, SV stayed above 2 million.

Smallville
- 2.238 million viewers
- 1.4/3 HH
- 0.9/4 A18-49
- 1.1/4 A18-34
- 0.7/3 W18-34

So, the CW gets to celebrate staying above 2M -- seems like winning third place in the shoe tying contest.

And that demo... .7/3 for 18-34. I think they must ignore that for SV/SPN or else SV would get the boot IMO.

It's a 13% drop from last week. I wonder if they factored back IN the Sunday repeat from NY --- I couldn't tell.

Syndication can sort of help the network in a round-about way. Shows often see a ratings bump (if they are still in production) after syndication. That's what happened with NCIS this season. The show went into syndication on USA. A bunch of new viewers who never watched before saw it over the summer, and many of them liked it enough to start watching first run eps on CBS this season. And the show's ratings have gone through the roof. Which means the network will be able to charge more to run ads during the show.

This is why a show close to syndication has a better chance of being renewed. Networks know that, if it does well in syndication, that could mean a ratings increase for first-run eps on the network. Which means more ad money.

So, an episode with a major DC villain (DC characters typically having resulted in ratings bumps in the past), an actor who was likely cast to bring in some fans from another series, AND an episode they've been pimping since Comic Con-- and that's the best they can do? Gosh, can't wait to see what next week's ratings look like *smiles evilly*.

Who needs Rabid when there is Zombieland to fill the quotient for the undead?

I wonder if the promo monkeys are kicking themselves for not including shots of the foaming freaks (it is called Rabid, there needs to at least be some drool) and cashing in on Zombieland opening to the number one spot. (If a piano fell on Lois, I might watch)

Its a terrible rating regardless of pre-emptions in NY. 2.238 are you kidding me.... .7 in w-18-34 demo is killer bad. That is like .1 above the repeat of Top Model. People wonder why it was banished to friday. Its obvious the women demo doesn't care about the show in large #s. That rating will probably go back up to about 2.4 next week with full coverage, but how much longer will they be able to hold that 2 million threshold. Metallo & Lois & Clark front and center is just not moving the meter up for the show. Next spring, what are they going to do when the ratings are 1.8 & .6 demo 18-34 women. That isn't going to cut it regardless of it being on friday.... Thanks for the #s.

I don't want to come off as sarcastic, but is Brian Austin Green really a ratings draw? I liked him enough on Terminator, but I didn't think he had much of a following. I don't really consider him stunt casting, but YMMV. I did think Metallo was supposed to bring in some fans, so that didn't quite work out.

It makes me a little sad when I remember that this time last season we were getting introduced to Davis.

When they first cast him, they made a big deal about it. Big enough for me to think they thought he'd be a ratings draw or, at least, his casting was some sort of stunt casting. Personally, I'd rather them have hire a smaller name (read: cheaper actor) and make us grow to like Corben so his post-change struggle would have more of an impact, as well as making it as though the Daily Planet wasn't just Clois, Tess + extras.

and let's not forget that on the 16th Ugly Betty premieres. That should be interesting.

I didn't realize they were doing a two-hour premiere for UB. Hmm, that might actually hurt SV this week. I think it's premiering this week, but I might be wrong.



Ah, I guess that makes sense. I'm only somewhat following SV media these days, so I haven't read many articles or seen many promos.

Sorry to go all Davis-fangirly, but they should've found a way to keep SW. He's a fantastic actor and Davis caught on with a lot of fans, it was such a shame that his storyline ended the way it did. Given all the times they've dragged out storylines, I would've been fine with them dragging out the Davis/Doomsday story for another season. Then again, without Davis it's one less incentive for me to watch, so I guess there's a bright side too.

SW not returning was because of Sam's decision not to, not because TPTB didn't want to keep him.

And his decision was based in part on their storyline ideas. He didn't like how Davis's storyline was resolved, and in another interview he said he wasn't into their idea for him for S9. I wanted Davis to continue on instead of this nonsensical Zod storyline anyway.

Hence the "should've found a way to keep [him]." Maybe by not shitting all over the work he did all season. I agree that the show probably would've retained a chunk of viewers who'd invested in Davis had TPTB treated SW better and giving him a reason to continue on the show. But I understand fully why he chose not to. It's just a shame...clearly the Clois basket is holding all the eggs and they've gone rotten already.

2.238 is another new series record low ratings for Smallville. Clearly Nois & CNois are not appealing to huge numbers of the core audience the show had left after 8 seasons.



Those eggs were always rotten, IMO. A Nois focus episode was also the lowest rated prior to S9.

As I said just before you, it premieres October 16th. So Noisville is safe this week, but next week will definitely be a test.