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If this has been talked about in earlier pages ignore me. But the week before this episode was going to debut, there was a campaign on Twitter to boycot watching the episode.
I’m not saying who but that might account for the low ratings.
[adrotate group="5"]If this has been talked about in earlier pages ignore me. But the week before this episode was going to debut, there was a campaign on Twitter to boycot watching the episode. I’m not saying who but that might account for the low ratings.
The interplay of social media and our particular fandom is interesting, but to be perfectly honest I don’t think it mattered.
Here’s the thing with boycotts and fandom and their effectiveness: they aren’t effective; at least not to the extent in your above suggestion. The people who would be part of that group who proposed boycotting would make up a very (very very very) tiny percentage. Less than 10,000 people if I had to hazard a guess, not enough to drive the demo numbers down to the extent that they did fall; There wasn’t a million or more drop in over all viewership is what I’m saying. Our perspective is wildly skewed because we think that the fandom is so vocal that it must be the majority of the viewership (because we are so involved that we are inclined to see it that way) but in reality, we’re only one small piece of this pie.
Best Laid Plans: 5.48
Heart of Gold: 5.17
See? Not a *huge* drop in number of viewers. If the boycott was effective and had reached a large number of people who could be persuaded to follow suit, you’d see a larger drop.
The thing with boycotts is that in order to be effective you have to really get the word out and you have to be able to generate interest in people participating. Simply saying you’re not going to watch is one thing, but that message reaching the general audience and the larger viewer audience is slim to none. People who aren’t apart of this fandom don’t know about all the boycott/protest/whatever stuff. They judge whether or not they want to watch a weeks episode based on their previous weeks experience. And, furthermore, the message clearly didn’t reach everyone because as active as I am in this fandom, I didn’t even hear about the boycott, so the chances of so many people outside the fandom hearing about that it actually caused a dip like this isn’t likely.
And, I’ll say this as well, our fandom is wildly inconsistent in what they say vs what the do. Many will say they are going to stop watching, but then they’ll peak in for an episode or watch just to see if they were right in their original judgement or they’ll say they aren’t going to watch, but secretly will. A boycott in a fandom has little to do with a low demo–or rather a lower demo since a 1.5 (while a series low for us) isn’t necessarily horrible for other TV shows of OUAT’s type and time on the air.
There are other factors Matt and I haven’t brought up. Episode 417 was also the night GoT came back on the air and HBO was reairing the whole 4th seasons with the premiere at 9pm (which broke some sort of record, lord love them). The weather is getting nicer. NBC aired their Bible stuff which did mostly okay. AND, even if it hurt to acknowledge it, the actions of Snowing in 416 left a very bad taste in many people’s mouth–possibly bad enough that they decided to not tune in.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"Something to add to what RG said. You also have to remember that boycotting the show only effects ratings if you are a Nielsen household with a Nielsen box. Only their viewership is what is being used to calculate the ratings, and Nielsen membership is very few and far between. Nielsen chooses these households at random to each represent the viewing habits of a larger area. How many Nielsen members are aware of this apparent boycott movement? Not many, if at all.
Something to add to what RG said. You also have to remember that boycotting the show only effects ratings if you are a Nielsen household with a Nielsen box. Only their viewership is what is being used to calculate the ratings, and Nielsen membership is very few and far between. Nielsen chooses these households at random to each represent the viewing habits of a larger area. How many Nielsen members are aware of this apparent boycott movement? Not many, if at all.
Excellent point.
So in order for this boycott to be effective, the following would need to happen
1) information about boycott put out to the masses
2) people who agree to boycott actually following through
3) Those people who followed through having Nielsen boxes
In other words, this boycott isn’t a factor in trying to understand the ratings.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I think the low ratings are the result of a couple of things: convoluted plots, timeline confusion, and a storyline that fails to interest people. Plus, the preview for 4×17 gave away that Zelena and Robin Hood would be returning, and maybe they’re less compelling to a GA as they may be to part of the online fandom. Also, this episode came one the heels of an episode in which it was revealed how Snow and Charming drove evil into a baby. Granted, I may be projecting some of my own preferences onto a GA (who doesn’t do that to some extent), but these are my suspicions. I don’t think your average family wants to watch a show that promotes adultery but then tries to backslide and wrangle its way out of said net through a convoluted “twist” that involves a crowd-splitting villain like Zelena. I don’t think your average family wants to see noble characters like Snow and Charming commit actual acts of evil.
"That’s how you know you’ve really got a home. When you leave it, there’s this feeling that you can’t shake. You just miss it." Neal Cassidy
The drop between 416 and 417 isn’t really that significant, when you really look at it. The biggest drop for Season 4B is still from 413 (“Unforgiven”) to 414 (“Enter the Dragon”). Total viewers went from 6.72 to 5.88, and demos went from 2.1 to a 1.8. By comparison, 416 to 417 went from 5.48 to 5.17 total viewers, and demos went from 1.7. to 1.6. I would bet that Snowing’s shadiness on top of the Scarlet Beauty twist really turned people off in between those episodes. Rumbelle has always been one of the most popular relationships on the show, so to make a move like that is really risky. Even if Scarlet Beauty ends up just being an obstacle for Rumbelle, I imagine there is only so much angst Rumbelle fans can take before enough is enough.
Anyway, it’s typical for ratings to remain fairly flat with minor fluctuations this late in the Season, as the remaining viewers at this stage are mostly the dedicated ones. Why bail now when there’s only a few more episodes to watch before the Season ends? That’s not to say we won’t drop a little more, but I have my doubts we’ll drop past a 1.5. Especially when the finale always gets a boost.
With everything being said, I’ll give my prediction for episode 418 (tomorrow’s episode) now.
I’d say, given our trajectory, the weather (at least in large parts of the the country), the other shows on the air….
I’d say we’re looking at staying steady at a 1.6; we might fall but it would only be by a hairs breath to a 1.5.
If *if* we fall lower than a 1.5 this week, then we’re looking at dissatisfaction with *some* storyline–it’s hard to pinpoint which one, but I’d say that a bigger drop is indicative of the audience not liking something.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"If *if* we fall lower than a 1.5 this week, then we’re looking at dissatisfaction with *some* storyline–it’s hard to pinpoint which one, but I’d say that a bigger drop is indicative of the audience not liking something.
*whispers* OQ.
If as you say, a drop in ratings is indicative of how the previous episode was received, then I think it would be fair to say that bringing back the OQ and Zelena storyline is possibly something the audience isn’t liking.
Out of interest, what are the ratings like for 4B compared to 3B and 4A?
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of FelixIn regards to competition for tomorrow night, the biggest possible threat in our timeslot is the Academy of Country Music Awards on CBS. The Simpsons will also be new again, but 1) That’s a half hour show and 2) The show seems to have an audience distinct from OUAT, as it’s always been airing directly against it.
Out of interest, what are the ratings like for 4B compared to 3B and 4A?
Lower on both accounts. 4A is a weird season, ratings wise though. It started super high because of the Frozen push and then had a much bigger cushion. So it started off at a…3.7? 3.8? Mental. But it ended with a 1.9 I believe. And we’ve just been staying steady/falling slightly every week since.
Same with 3B. We started with a modest 2.3, hit our series low around “Bleeding Through” and then either stayed steady or rose a little bit for the finale.
Also, I really need to ask that we *not* start any kind of shipping thing here. I don’t know what storyline people are turned off by. Our perception is always skewed based on our own feelings and the fact that we’re very involved in fandom. But for your average Joe….we don’t know what they think about any ships.
In regards to competition for tomorrow night, the biggest possible threat in our timeslot is the Academy of Country Music Awards on CBS. The Simpsons will also be new again, but 1) That’s a half hour show and 2) The show seems to have an audience distinct from OUAT, as it’s always been airing directly against it.
Didn’t know that was on. Hm. We’ll see how that hits us (if it does)
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
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