Sons of Anarchy Bests Leno In Ratings
Why a Cable Program Beating the Late Night King is a Big Deal
Oct 23, 2009
On Tuesday, October 20, the FX original series Sons of Anarchy beat NBC's The Jay Leno Show in the Nielsen Ratings. That marks the first time a basic cable program has bested the late night juggernaut. Sons of Anarchy pulled in a 2.05 rating among adults 18-49. Leno pulled in 1.8 among the same demographic. While the Nielsen ratings do have their own flaws, this is still a remarkable landmark in television history.
Trouble For Leno
First, it is worth addressing the state of Leno's program since it's premiere in September 2009. While it started out fairly strong in the ratings, it saw a steady decline over the following weeks, culminating in it's low point Friday, October 16, with a 1.2 rating. For a show that was meant to revolutionize prime time television, it's has been hitting a lot of friction.
Many point to the MLB playoffs as a reason for Leno's recent ratings decline. The argument would seem to make sense. Major sports events do tend to pull viewers away from shows they would otherwise watch. However, NBC's 9pm shows have seen some some ratings gains. The same week that Sons of Anarchy bested Leno, both The Biggest Loser and Law and Order: SVU achieved season highs in ratings. What this seems to indicate is that audiences are not as ready to embrace late night programs within the prime time slots.
Cable Continues To Impress
Broadcast shows facing stiffer competition from cable is not new. For many years now, cable shows received a lot of praise from critics, and the Emmy award show is starting to nominate more and more cable programs for best drama and comedy. For many critics, cable programs are of higher quality than their broadcast counterparts.
Sons of Anarchy's triumph over Leno ups the stakes even more. It is one thing for critics to praise cable shows over broadcast, as many times there is a gulf between what critics prefer and what mainstream audiences prefer. But for a cable show, a more niche program, to overtake the broad appeal of Jay Leno in ratings is more a reflection on what the audience itself wants to watch. If audiences follow the critics lead and begin moving towards the cable network for their evening entertainment, the broadcast channels could be in some trouble.
What Bumping Leno to Prime Time Means For The Industry
When NBC made the decision to bump Leno up to prime time, many in the industry kept their eyes on the program to see how well it performed. Putting the cheaper and more cost effective nightly program on at 10pm instead of scripted dramas (which normally occupy the spot) was a big move. It was also a move that drew a lot of criticism, especially from writers, who saw the move as an attack on the scripted programs which pay their salary. Critics also panned the show for it's often times too broad comedy.
Audiences may be beginning to side with the critics. Not only have Leno's numbers been declining, but the ratings for other shows have been rising. Leno was popular in his late night slot, but people may not be ready to give up their other prime time shows in order to watch his. This will surely please critics, who will see this as a triumph for quality television programming. It will also surely make NBC nervous, as they were counting on Leno's new show to help their struggling network.
Sons of Anarchy's success also calls the varying strategies into question. Broadcast stations typically try to have their shows appeal to as broad of demographic as possible, since that would theoretically pull in more viewers. But as cable begins to take up more of the ratings with their more specifically tailored shows, it may indicate that audiences are looking for more than just mass appeal, that they are looking for shows that seem to speak to them as opposed to everyone. It is possible that the broadcast stations may need to rethink how they develop their programming.
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