Summer’s Breakout Hits: Duck Dynasty and Breaking Bad

Summer TV Season – The Doldrums● Historically, broadcast

television shows premiere in early fall and wrap late in the spring.

● That’s left the summer as a TV backwater filled with re-runs and low ratings.

A Summer TV Savior, Cable!● However, with cable channels producing

more original programming, they’ve found summer to be an ideal time to release new shows.

● With less competition from reruns on broadcast networks, midsummer shows get more “buzz” and higher viewership compared the busy fall season.

This Summer TV Season● Let’s take a look at how summer TV compares to May,

when most TV shows are winding up.

● CBS’ NCIS attracted 16.99 million viewers for its May 7th showing, a new episode.

● However, this Tuesday’s episode of NCIS – a repeat – only garnered 6.04 million viewers.

● That’s a stunning 65% drop-off, and shows how less competitive the summer rerun season is.

Breakout Hits of This Summer● One of the most fascinating

storylines in TV across the past decade has been the emergence of hit TV shows on cable television. Some names are recognizable such as The Shield and Mad Men, but what may surprise investors and TV viewers is how rapidly audiences for these shows is growing.

Focusing In On Mad Men● For example, Mad Men has been a cultural

phenomenon and won wide critical praise. However, its first episode in July 2007 premiered to just 900,000 viewers.

● Six years later, the show averaged 3.37 million viewers for its most recent season, an impressive jump, but also a far cry from what cable’s breakout winners are attracting this summer.

Breaking Bad, A Ratings Hit● Breaking Bad, along with

Mad Men, helped establish AMC as a force to be reckoned with when it came to original programming. While the show performed well in past seasons, its ratings were still slightly below Mad Men.

● For example, last July’s season five premiere drew just 2.9 million viewers.

A Summer Hit in 2013● However, this season

premiered to an astounding 5.9 million viewers, effectively doubling last season’s total.

● Fans are still tuning in: Last week’s episode drew 4.85 million viewers.

Double the Viewers of Breaking Bad

● As much success as Breaking Bad has enjoyed this summer, its total viewership pales next to A&E’s Duck Dynasty.

● The premiere episode of Duck Dynasty drew an astounding 11.8 million viewers, including more than 6 million in the key 18-49 demographic.

A Big Jump From Prior Seasons● Duck Dynasty’s fourth season premiere

was a huge jump over the prior season, which averaged 8.4 million viewers. It’s also nearly double the ratings of the second season.

● Big ratings are still coming in. Last week, the show narrowly beat out MTV’s Video Music Awards as the top-rated cable program.

Final Thoughts● It’s important to remember that ratings

aren’t the only determining factor for TV shows. AMC makes significantly more money on fees it charges cable companies than from advertising.

● Hit shows that have a dedicated following like Mad Men help cable companies command those rates, even if total ratings are lower.

More Cable Hits on the Horizon…● Yet, the success of both Duck Dynasty

and Breaking Bad shows how cable channels are becoming more influential.

● In AMC’s case, this will be the last season of Breaking Bad and Mad Men’s last season comes next year. Lucky for them, The Walking Dead has become a far greater hit than both shows combined. Last season’s final episode attracted a whopping 12.4 million viewers.

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