TV Ratings for "Hero"

[ClarkyBoy14]

Discuss the Nielsen ratings for "Hero" once they're released. :)

[MidgardDragon]

Here's hoping they're good. Returns from hiatus are not typically kind to Smallville, but with Pete returning that should give it a boost based on fans of the first few seasons who might not watch now returning.

[ClarkyBoy14]

Why I think it could do well:

1) The obvious: Pete returns and OneRepublic performs

2) Little competition: repeat of Lost, new Survivor, new 5th Grader, repeat of Earl

3) ANTM & PCD are doing better than Crowned & GG (or whatever was airing last time SV was new) on Wednesdays, which means more people who will see the SV promotions


Why I think it could do bad:

Like you said, returns from hiatuses aren't always kind to SV. Nor is DST. :\

[oldblackmagick]

well the ratings system is semi-flawed anyways. I always start Smallville 10 minutes after it has started so i can skip commercials on my dvr. sad but true:p

[bizzaroboy9]

i think it will be from 4.2 to 4.6 million viewers.

[NeoSuperman]

Do ratings here in Canada even matter? I'm pretty sure American stations like CW that make these shows only care about their American ratings.

[6-Super-Man -5]

I think only American ratings matter.

[Best Episode - 321]

Season 7 Week to Week (Live +SD)

Bizarro............5.18 million*
Kara................4.59 million*
Fierce..............4.82 million*
Cure................5.18 million*
Action..............4.65 million*
Lara................4.38 million*
Wrath..............4.64 million*
Blue.................4.51 million*
Gemini.............3.71 million*
Persona............3.81 million*
Siren.................4.01 million*
Fracture..............3.67 million*
Hero................... ?

* - Final Rating

Season Average - 4.43 million
_______________________________________

If anyone is interested, here are the Live+7 ratings for the first 12 Episodes.

Bizarro............5.59 million
Kara................5.04 million
Fierce..............5.20 million
Cure................5.61 million
Action..............5.08 million
Lara................4.75 million
Wrath..............5.12 million
Blue.................4.90 million
Gemini.............4.05 million
Persona............4.34 million
Siren.................4.53 million
Fracture.............4.18 million

Live+7 Season Average - 4.87 million

[6-Super-Man -5]

Thanks for the rating. :) I am thinking "Hero" will get from 4.1 to 4.7 million.

[bizzaroboy9]

lets hope it will be above 4 million! :D

[6-Super-Man -5]

Yes lets hope!

[TheLastKryptonian]

Season 7 Week to Week (Live +SD)

Bizarro............5.18 million*
Kara................4.59 million*
Fierce..............4.82 million*
Cure................5.18 million*
Action..............4.65 million*
Lara................4.38 million*
Wrath..............4.64 million*
Blue.................4.51 million*
Gemini.............3.71 million*
Persona............3.81 million*
Siren.................4.01 million*
Fracture..............3.67 million*
Hero................... ?

* - Final Rating

Season Average - 4.43 million
_______________________________________

If anyone is interested, here are the Live+7 ratings for the first 12 Episodes.

Bizarro............5.59 million
Kara................5.04 million
Fierce..............5.20 million
Cure................5.61 million
Action..............5.08 million
Lara................4.75 million
Wrath..............5.12 million
Blue.................4.90 million
Gemini.............4.05 million
Persona............4.34 million
Siren.................4.53 million
Fracture.............4.18 million

Live+7 Season Average - 4.87 million

Woah those Live+7 ratings are actually pretty impressive thanks for posting! The season 7 average so far is higher than season 4, 5 and 6 and almost as high as season 3! (S3:4.9, S4:4.4, S5:4.7, S6:4.1) Hope Smallville keeps up the good work!

[Best Episode - 321]

The overnight metered market ratings are in:

The CW's already renewed Smallville (2.8/ 5)

__________________________________________________ ____________
----- Added 1 Hours and 53 Minutes later -----

Fast Nationals Are In:

The CW’s already renewed Smallville (Viewers: #5, 3.79 million; A18-49: #4t, 1.6/ 5)

__________________________________________________ _____________

Season 7 Week to Week

Bizarro............5.18 million*
Kara................4.59 million*
Fierce..............4.82 million*
Cure................5.18 million*
Action..............4.65 million*
Lara................4.38 million*
Wrath..............4.64 million*
Blue.................4.51 million*
Gemini.............3.71 million*
Persona............3.81 million*
Siren.................4.01 million*
Fracture..............3.67 million*
Hero...................3.79 million

* - Final Rating

Season Average - 4.38 million

[SparkleforSmallville]

Hopefully, it will go up in the Final. I know it will substantially increase in the Live+7.
Seemed that CW played the Trailer quite often. Although it was the same one, it is a really good Trailer.

I'm surprised Hero didn't do better. Not enough people watch the other shows on CW for Trailers to help, I guess:/

[DreadShamus]

I'm surprised Hero didn't do better. Not enough people watch the other shows on CW for Trailers to help, I guess:/

I honestly can't think of a single time I put my TV on CW when I'm not watching SV.

----- Added 2 Minutes later -----

I'm not surprised so many drops have occured. I remember during seasons 4 and 5 I never watched the ends of the seasons because I wasn't especially excited about them, and the constant 3 or even 5 week breaks led to me finding other things to do on those nights. I'd forget it was finally starting back up and miss a couple episodes and just decide to catch up when it came out on DVD.

[MidgardDragon]

Hero increased the ratings from Fracture, so I don't see this as a loss at all. And the Live+7 ratings will probably get it up to 4.20 or above, maybe even getting in the 4.40's.

[boywithbluehanger]

So the ratings continue to suck...as long as it's still supposedly coming back, (to hopefully have a final season) I'm not worried. :D

[Jack-El49]

Hopefully, it will go up in the Final. I know it will substantially increase in the Live+7.
Seemed that CW played the Trailer quite often. Although it was the same one, it is a really good Trailer.

I'm surprised Hero didn't do better. Not enough people watch the other shows on CW for Trailers to help, I guess:/

I'm sure it will surpass 4M in the Live+7 ratings. At least it was an increase from last new episode and that's a good sign with seemingly strong episodes to follow.

I think you're right about the last part of your message. I really don't think there is enough programming on CW that people watch to see the promos for new episodes.

I made the same comment after the last new episode - SV is all I watch on CW so promoting it on CW is really a lot like shouting in an empty room to get attention. It needs to get TV Guide or other similar mainstream media advertising so that people who don't watch CW but would be drawn back to Smallville. If they knew how well this season is being written, many would come back and stay.

Even at 2.8/5, that surpasses the CW average of 2.2/5.

----- Added 14 Minutes later -----


Woah those Live+7 ratings are actually pretty impressive thanks for posting! The season 7 average so far is higher than season 4, 5 and 6 and almost as high as season 3! (S3:4.9, S4:4.4, S5:4.7, S6:4.1) Hope Smallville keeps up the good work!


I think the real good news is it SEEMS that more people are including SV in their TiVO schedules; up about 100,000 viewers from the beginning of the season. Looking at the difference between the final ratings and the final Live + 7 ratings, there appears to be a generally upward trend between the two figures from the beginning of the season to Fracture. I hope if more people aren't going to tune in and watch it live, I hope they at least keep programming their TiVOs to record it.

[celita]

Do you have the TIVO + DVDR ratings of the season?

[ClarkyBoy14]

DST always has a very negative effect on SV, so to actually see it rise from the last new episode.

Not to mention it beat ANTM in total viewers. ;)

[SparkleforSmallville]

DST always has a very negative effect on SV, so to actually see it rise from the last new episode.

Not to mention it beat ANTM in total viewers. ;)

I didn't realize that. Daylight Savings Time has a negative effect on me also:/ My internal time clock is all messed up. But I wouldn't miss an episode of Smallville :)

[boywithbluehanger]

I think the CW secretly meant Smallville among other shows are coming back next season... IF the CW stays on air.

It's easy to assume the CW will stay on air but the bonding companies really don't seem to grasp the idea that a station geared solely towards american youth isn't necessarily what they've ever wanted to begin with. Turns out teens like some adult dramas along with crime shows.

Also, The OC vs OTH and HEROES vs Smallville ratings show that teens will actually tune into teen-angst-themed shows that feature notably less character expanding as long as they're on a station that popularly caters to more demographics. After all, even teens want to watch something that's "cool" rather than feeling like the sole viewer of a show that they cannot share with anyone they know.

Until the CW moves away from being the "silly teens' network" by adding adult shows to their roster, they'll continue to have to play off 4-5 million viewers for their BEST SHOWS as a success.

[gameface25]

I just don't get why they do the long breaks. This season is different, with the strike, but they would do it anyways. People really do stop watching and find other stuff to do or shows to watch.

If they aired the episodes in consecutive weeks, aka 24, Idol, etc, ppl would watch....

[MidgardDragon]

I think the CW secretly meant Smallville among other shows are coming back next season... IF the CW stays on air.

It's easy to assume the CW will stay on air but the bonding companies really don't seem to grasp the idea that a station geared solely towards american youth isn't necessarily what they've ever wanted to begin with. Turns out teens like some adult dramas along with crime shows.

Also, The OC vs OTH and HEROES vs Smallville ratings show that teens will actually tune into teen-angst-themed shows that feature notably less character expanding as long as they're on a station that popularly caters to more demographics. After all, even teens want to watch something that's "cool" rather than feeling like the sole viewer of a show that they cannot share with anyone they know.

Until the CW moves away from being the "silly teens' network" by adding adult shows to their roster, they'll continue to have to play off 4-5 million viewers for their BEST SHOWS as a success.

Smallville and The CW will never have the viewership of NBC, it's true, but I'm sure the network will stay on there for a little while yet to come. The real question is what happens to them after Smallville and ANTM. After those two shows are gone they have virtually nothing to bring in the ratings. The only possible scenario I could think of for them to continue to stay on the air after that is a spinoff or other Sci-Fi or superhero centered show to take Smallville's place.

[bizzaroboy9]

whats the final number?

[Lis]

Final rating for Hero:

SMALLVILLE: HH : 2.4/4 ; A18-49: 1.6/5; Viewers : 3,805,000; A18-34: 1.7/6

[6-Super-Man -5]

At least it has more views than "Fracture"

[FLyxNERD]

i think hero dint get as much as ratings as we had hoped cuz most fans had to wait a month since the last episode n i think some people just forgot

[bizzaroboy9]

Final rating for Hero:

SMALLVILLE: HH : 2.4/4 ; A18-49: 1.6/5; Viewers : 3,805,000; A18-34: 1.7/6

so that's 3.81?

[6-Super-Man -5]

i think hero dint get as much as ratings as we had hoped cuz most fans had to wait a month since the last episode n i think some people just forgot

Yeah, they must of forgot Smallville was airing a new episode instead of a repeat.

[Aries83]

Smallville and The CW will never have the viewership of NBC, it's true. The real question is what happens to them after Smallville and ANTM. After those two shows are gone they have virtually nothing to bring in the ratings. The only possible scenario I could think of for them to continue to stay on the air after that is a spinoff or other Sci-Fi or superhero centered show to take Smallville's place.

Speaking of such a show, if they were truly smart, they would pick up Jericho from CBS and give it a third season since they are currently on the bubble. Not to get too off topic, but in the promos for Jericho, they keep saying: "the final two episodes of the season." Jericho pulls in more viewers than Smallville and ANTM combined right now, so if they really wanted to be smart and at least have something to take the place of Smallville, they would get Jericho. Yet, I'm sure that won't happen. It would be a good option though.

[Dannyblue1]

Speaking of such a show, if they were truly smart, they would pick up Jericho from CBS and give it a third season since they are currently on the bubble. Not to get too off topic, but in the promos for Jericho, they keep saying: "the final two episodes of the season." Jericho pulls in more viewers than Smallville and ANTM combined right now, so if they really wanted to be smart and at least have something to take the place of Smallville, they would get Jericho. Yet, I'm sure that won't happen. It would be a good option though.

A show that pulls in a certain amount of viewers on one of the big three networks would not necessarily pull in the same amount of viewers on the CW.

This question comes up a lot. It seems like everyone who's a fan of a show on one of the Big 4 (NBC, CBS, ABC or FOX) that looks like it might be canceled, suggests it move to the CW. And the argument is always that, while the show's ratings are low for the network it's on, the CW would kill for those ratings.

But people who know way more about distribution and the like than I do say that a show moving from one of the big networks to the CW would be lucky to retain even 50% of it's current viewers. And they would probably retain much less than that. So, even if a show like Jericho, or Moonlight, or Sarah Connor Chronicles, or October Road, or Friday Night Lights moved to the CW (and fans of all of those shows and more have made the suggestion), they would probably end up getting the same amount of viewers shows usually get on the CW.

Budget is also an issue. Even shows that are considered "cheap" by the big networks would be considered much to expensive by the CW. So, for example, if Jericho were to hop networks, the budget would have to be slashed drastically in order for the CW to be able to afford it.

[Best Episode - 321]

Season 7 Week to Week

Bizarro............5.18 million*
Kara................4.59 million*
Fierce..............4.82 million*
Cure................5.18 million*
Action..............4.65 million*
Lara................4.38 million*
Wrath..............4.64 million*
Blue.................4.51 million*
Gemini.............3.71 million*
Persona............3.81 million*
Siren.................4.01 million*
Fracture..............3.67 million*
Hero...................3.81 million*

* - Final Rating

Season Average - 4.38 million

[6-Super-Man -5]

Wow, "Hero" got the same viewing as "Persona" did.

[mobiusklein]

I'm not that crazy about including the DVR/Tivo stuff because to me, it just means that 1) you're not invested enough to watch it live and 2) you usually skip the ads so advertisers aren't crazy about the DVR/Tivo nos. This isn't just a SV thing, not that crazy about it being used for other shows.

[jimmyolsenblues]

well we are renewed for season 8 but with numbers less than 4 million, i wonder if they cut back on the regular order for 22 episodes for season 8, plus, i think its a good bet right now that season 8 will be the last with less than 4 mill .

[Jack-El49]

I agree. Season 8 should be the last and while I thoroughly enjoy SV, it needs to move on. I think this season has been exceptional but there are only so many ways to keep Clark Kent from moving on and I believe that tptb have pretty much exhausted those ways. There are few things worse than watching a great series die a slow death and unless everything changed and SV became the new Lois and Clark, it would be twisting in the wind after next season.

[FLyxNERD]

they should end smallville after season 8...then start a new show called metropolis lol

[MidgardDragon]

I'm not that crazy about including the DVR/Tivo stuff because to me, it just means that 1) you're not invested enough to watch it live and 2) you usually skip the ads so advertisers aren't crazy about the DVR/Tivo nos. This isn't just a SV thing, not that crazy about it being used for other shows.

Actually it means that 1) you might have to work during the time that Smallville's on, or might have some big life-changing event that is more important than a TV show, and 2) you still see ads because Smallville includes those banner ads as well as product placement.


I agree. Season 8 should be the last and while I thoroughly enjoy SV, it needs to move on. I think this season has been exceptional but there are only so many ways to keep Clark Kent from moving on and I believe that tptb have pretty much exhausted those ways. There are few things worse than watching a great series die a slow death and unless everything changed and SV became the new Lois and Clark, it would be twisting in the wind after next season.

I agree, Season 8 would be the perfect opportunity to end it. We'd have two sets of four seasons, we wouldn't be into the "milking the cow" 10th season like say, "7th Heaven" did, we'd be seeing a well-rounded story that got to include pretty much everything we've wanted to see (minus Bruce Wayne, of course), and no one could say the series ending was rushed now that we've moved so far along in Season 7. Even with a 15 episode Season 8 they could pull off a brilliant ending, not to mention how much they could do with a 22 episode season.

[Dor el]

I liked Lois & Clark. Not as much the 4th season, unfortunately. Would have like more like season 1, but I guess that's just par for the course. I think there are still stories to tell in SV, but the producers would have to let the writers try new things and take Clark in a drastically different direction. I think people are getting bored with the backdrop of the small town known as Smallville. I think that it lost it's spark when that small town suddenly had nothing but young people in it. No depth and seriously unrealistic even for fantasy programing. Heavy sigh... I miss Jonathan and Martha. They seemed to fit the SV smalltown aura. So with things being as they are, I seriously doubt SV will last beyond season 8. Without SV, the CW will not be visiting my home. More TIVO space; unfortunately not much I am interested in watching.

Regarding the TIVO ratings niche, is it not better to get more of an idea of how many people watch in addition to the Neilson ratings thing? Even between TIVO and Neilson data gathering, there are still uncounted viewers I suspect. But, I truly do not fully understand the whole ratings game. I personally have never met anyone whose viewing habits were collected by Neilson or any other collector.

[bizzaroboy9]

Season 7 Week to Week

Bizarro............5.18 million*
Kara................4.59 million*
Fierce..............4.82 million*
Cure................5.18 million*
Action..............4.65 million*
Lara................4.38 million*
Wrath..............4.64 million*
Blue.................4.51 million*
Gemini.............3.71 million*
Persona............3.81 million*
Siren.................4.01 million*
Fracture..............3.67 million*
Hero...................3.81 million*

* - Final Rating

Season Average - 4.38 million

I bet that because the number for hero was higher than fracture, its possible for the episode traveller and veritas to have an increase in rating, so lets say traveller get 4.14 million viewers and veritas get 4.39 million viwerers, it could be possible for both of those episode to be in the 4 million range. I am sure about the same thing Descent snce veritas end with a cliffhanger a lot of viewers would want to know what happened.

[Dannyblue1]

I just don't get why they do the long breaks. This season is different, with the strike, but they would do it anyways. People really do stop watching and find other stuff to do or shows to watch.

You can blame sweeps for the long breaks. Some genius said, "I know. Instead of counting a show's ratings for the entire year, which would make sense, let's only count the ratings for four months of the year. Brilliant!" So, that's what they do.

Now, the ratings that really count are the ones from the sweeps months: November, February, May and August. (Although August often gets ignored since it's in the tail end of the summer hiatus.) Knowing this, networks try to save up new episodes for those months.

So, a show premiers at the end of September. They can't show reruns right away because they just came back, plus they want to build up to November sweeps. So they show new eps through the rest of September, then all of October and, of course, November. By the end of November, they've usually shown 10 new episodes already. That leaves them with only 12 more for the remaining 6 months.

Well, most of them (say 8) are going to end up being shown during February and May sweeps. That means they only have 4 more episodes to spread out over December, January, March and April. (Which is when the long hiatuses occur.) And chances are they'll want to show some of the remaining 4 episodes at the end of January and April, in order to build the audiences back up in time for Feb and May sweeps.

So, basically, the focus is so much on those four sweep months that new eps get clumped together during those times, instead of being spread out over the season.

Back before the sweeps system started, and networks didn't have to worry about getting the best ratings possible during "key" months, things would be spread out much more evenly. They'd show 3 or 4 new episodes, then a rerun, 2 more new episodes, and a rerun, then another two new eps, and a rerurn (or even 2 during the holiday seasons, when you know people won't be watching much TV anyway).

These very short breaks were much easier on audiences. There's a huge difference between knowing you won't get a new episode of a show for a week or two, and knowing you have to wait months for new episodes to start again. And, during those long waits, it not unusual for audiences to drift away.

So, basically, the sweeps system is to blame for the long hiatuses, and the drop off in ratings many shows experience because of them.

[ClarkyBoy14]

^I'd rather have what we have now instead that stop-and-go formula. Well, not this year's scheduling, since it was messed up by the strike, but what we have during a normal season.

Not to mention, sweeps are becoming less and less relevent.

----- Added 5 Minutes later -----


I didn't realize that. Daylight Savings Time has a negative effect on me also:/ My internal time clock is all messed up. But I wouldn't miss an episode of Smallville :)

Me too. I wish we could just do away w/ DST. Extra hour of sunlight be damned.

And I won't miss an episode either.

----- Added 10 Minutes later -----


I'm not that crazy about including the DVR/Tivo stuff because to me, it just means that 1) you're not invested enough to watch it live and 2) you usually skip the ads so advertisers aren't crazy about the DVR/Tivo nos. This isn't just a SV thing, not that crazy about it being used for other shows.

I know a few people will be interested in "Hero's" DVR numbers: Stride, OneRepublic's record label, and Toyota (and maybe Sprint too).

And the CW should be as well.

----- Added 35 Minutes later -----


well we are renewed for season 8 but with numbers less than 4 million, i wonder if they cut back on the regular order for 22 episodes for season 8, plus, i think its a good bet right now that season 8 will be the last with less than 4 mill .

Ever since S4, DST and hiatuses have pushed SV into sub-4 mill territory, and this season, with the CW's poor strike episode scheduling, the strike itself, and the CW being down as a whole, the problem is only going to be exacerbated.

[Dannyblue1]

^I'd rather have what we have now instead that stop-and-go formula. Well, not this year's scheduling, since it was messed up by the strike, but what we have during a normal season.

What we have during a normal season is a stop-and-go formula. Only the stops are really long, drawn out, and annoying. At least, I find them annoying. I'd much rather wait two weeks for an new episode that nearly two months. And, as the ratings show, many shows lose quite a bit of their audience during the long hiatuses, especially the one in the spring.

On the other hands, shows that do a continuous run, with maybe an occasional break for a rerun here and there, have much steadier ratings, and don't tend to see the kinds of big ratings drops many shows have after a long hiatus.

Basically, long breaks are bad, the sweeps system sucks.


Not to mention, sweeps are becoming less and less relevent.

And in what way are sweeps not relevant? A handful of shows are going against the sweeps thing, doing six-month runs sort of as an experiment to see how it works. But, for now, networks are still mostly setting their schedules by sweeps and, as long as they do, sweeps are relevant.

[ClarkyBoy14]

Final rating for Hero:

SMALLVILLE: HH : 2.4/4 ; A18-49: 1.6/5; Viewers : 3,805,000; A18-34: 1.7/6

I was hoping for a little better, but, all things considered, not bad.

----- Added 11 Minutes later -----

^I don't like what we have now either, but I like it better than never knowing when there's going to be another new episode because every other week we have a repeat. When I was younger and I'd watch Disney, I'd get frusrated because they did the same thing. They would try to spread a 22 episode season over an entire year, and you would never know when the next ep. would air.

I'd like it if the nets tried what ABC Fam does, and air 10-13 eps of a season in rotation w/ 10-13 eps of a different show.

----- Added 16 Minutes later -----

I didn't say sweeps are no longer relevant, I said they're becoming less relevant. Notice how lately the nets haven't made as big a deal out of them and there hasn't been as many specials as there used to be? I agree, they're still in use, but they're not quite as important as they used to be.

[jack1487]

I was hoping for a little better, but, all things considered, not bad.

----- Added 11 Minutes later -----

^I don't like what we have now either, but I like it better than never knowing when there's going to be another new episode because every other week we have a repeat. When I was younger and I'd watch Disney, I'd get frusrated because they did the same thing. They would try to spread a 22 episode season over an entire year, and you would never know when the next ep. would air.

I'd like it if the nets tried what ABC Fam does, and air 10-13 eps of a season in rotation w/ 10-13 eps of a different show.

----- Added 16 Minutes later -----



I didn't say sweeps are no longer relevant, I said they're becoming less relevant. Notice how lately the nets haven't made as big a deal out of them and there hasn't been as many specials as there used to be? I agree, they're still in use, but they're not quite as important as they used to be.


I think that your right the sweeps don't make as much relevant as they use to, but about before they were considered relevant we use to get 32 episode per season instead of the 22 we now get. The net is taking it's toll.

Take Care,

Jack :)

[bizzaroboy9]

the live+7 numbers should be released this week. right?

[bizzaroboy9]

good news guys! the live+7 has been released and the number is good.

the number is 4.40 million viewers!

[ClarkyBoy14]

Show: SMALLVILLE
Net: CW
Viewers Live+7 (000): 4,398
Viewers Live (000): 3,425
Viewers Live+SD: 3,805
DVR Audience (000s): 973
% Increase Over Live: 28.40%
%SD Viewing: 39.05%

Interesting things to note:
- SV was the 16th most DVRed show for that week.
- SV had the 3rd highest % increase in DVR viewing from live viewing for that week.
- SV beat ANTM on all counts. ;)

[SparkleforSmallville]

Thanks for the info guys:) Smallville's still going strong!!!