First a huge disclaimer: I LOVE LOST! There, I said it. But the numbers are the numbers. ABC has the good fortune of being able to mask some of the ratings attrition in seasonal averages and effectively the bleed off of viewers when looked at that way hasn't been so bad, dropping from around 16m average viewers for season one to around 13 million this year for season 4.
In the comments section of the overnight results for Thursday, commenter Peter L had a specific request the numbers for the season 2 and season 3 premieres. Commenter Jack_Shephard (hey, if you're going to be anonymous on the Internet, and are a LOST-lover, might as well show the colors) jumped right in and provided them. But I thought I'd take a more in-depth look and dug up as much information as I could for each season's premiere and finale.
The largest drop occurred between the season 3 premiere and finale. I'm not surprised, other than the finale itself, season 3 was my least favorite. Some folks caught up and came back for the season four premiere, and DVR is a much bigger factor this year than last so it could well be that this season's finale actually did better than last years. We won't really be able to say that for sure, but lost has generally had over 3 million DVR viewers (though keep in mind that 30%-50% of those viewers are counted in the live plus same day numbers, more DVR viewers watched the same night when the show aired at 9pm than when it aired at 10pm). I wouldn't be surprised at all if LOST's live plus seven day DVR viewing #'s for the finale are in the 14 million range.
While LOST is still a hit in the 18-49 demographic by today's standards, it's lost about half its 18-49 viewers from its apex. Here are the numbers:
| Date | Season | Episode | HH Rating/Share | Viewers (Millions) LIVE+SD | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Viewers (Millions) |
| 9/22/2004 | S1 Premiere | Pilot: Part 1 | 18.6 | |||
| 5/25/2005 | S1 Finale | Exodus: Part 2 | 12.0/18 | 20.71 | 7.8 | 10.15 |
| 9/21/2005 | S2 Premiere | Man of Science, Man of Faith | 13.8/20 | 23.47 | 10.2 | 13.23 |
| 5/24/2006 | S2 Finale | Live Together, Die Alone | 10.3/16 | 17.84 | 7.6 | 9.84 |
| 10/4/2006 | S3 Premiere | A Tale of Two Cities | 11.1/17 | 18.82 | 7.7 | 10.09 |
| 5/23/2007 | S3 Finale | Through The Looking Glass | 8.0/13 | 13.86 | 5.9 | 7.69 |
| 1/31/2008 | S4 Premiere | The Begnning of the End | 9.4/14 | 16.14 | 6.7 | 8.83 |
| 5/29/2008 | S4 Finale* | There's No Place Like Home (parts 2 and 3) | 7.1/11 | 12.2 | 4.9 | 6.41 |
All numbers are either LIVE or LIVE plus same day DVR viewing (which Nielsen didn't measure going back a few years). 5/29/08 numbers are preliminary overnight estimates.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
First of all, thanks for jumping on the info. It looks great in the table. You guys do a great job.
I could be wrong but it does look like S2 premiere to S2 finale took the biggest hit in terms of viewers and the demo viewers(5.63 difference vs 4.96 for S3, though S3 lost a greater percentage of viewers ~26% vs ~23% for S2). Robert, I know you said you least liked S3, mine was S2 but possibly because I watched S2 week to week after watching S1 on DVD. The hatch was such a disappointment, typing in the numbers was annoying and the fact that they killed off SO many characters S2 (whether it was intended or their real-life actors were getting into a few too many real-life problems, Michelle Rodriquez for one).
I think it’s hard to say whether LOST lost less viewers this season than last, or that LOST is simply whittling away the half and half followers of the show. This season was the best by far, but it certainly was more difficult to keep up all the plots.
the public has the attention span of a dustmite….what was i saying
Peter, thanks for the kind words. I’m a percentages guy and the S3 finale suffered a bigger loss on a percentage basis versus the premiere. I watched almost the entire first three seasons on my iPhone back to back in about 1 months time. The only episode out of the first 3 seasons I watched on the big screen was the S3 finale (which I loved).
Season 4 was definitely my favorite, perhaps for me watching only one a week is the way to go
But I think it’s more that they told some great stories this year.
Robert, thank you for the full info and a mention in the article. Woohoo! I pwn. I loved season 4, some episodes more than others. The Constant was a highlight of, not just the LOST season, but a highlight of the TV-season in general. I think ABC submitted it for Emmy consideration. Although, I kinda of hope The Wire takes it all at the Emmy’s this year.
I’d say S2 and S3 were just there to introduce characters and new aspects of the island. With those, S4 was able to tell some great stories. The S3 finale (Through the Looking Glass) is possibly one of the best season finales ever. It had 3 Emmy nominations in 2007 for good reason. It’s hard to compare finale to finale because all shows are different. But LOST threw away their own convention and created something new… and that’s what made it unique.
More than anything, the thing I like most about LOST is that ABC (for once) has let the minds behind the show tell their intended story. I’m glad the show is renewed until it’s end and hopefully S5 will pick up right where 4 left off.
I agree completely with you Jack — and they did submit The Constant (and one other, I forget which) for emmy consideration. That was an awesome episode. I can only think of one episode of TV I felt similarly about (for SciFi-ish shows). And episode of Star Trek: TNG called “The Inner Light”. I think it was season 5. A great hour of television.
Well, I guess I’m gonna have to unpack my TNG DVD’s to rewatch that episode
. Very few episodes, or shows for that matter, make me stand up and literally clap at the TV at what I’ve just seen. The Constant was one of those episodes, as well as every season finale of The Wire.
you have some over lining factors:
1. s2 premiere had new viewers due to buzz/emmy win. it didnt take long for those new viewers to go away since this is not the kind of show you can jump into late.
2. serialized shows are only going to lose viewers. this is commonplace, its impossible for every viewer to catch every show. they miss a few episodes here and there, things get too confusing, they bail. its gonna happen.
3. the s2 and s3 episode scheduling was terrible. s2 especially. they went new episode, repeat, repeat, new episode, repeat too often. s3 had the absurd break after 6 episodes, which was just an awful idea by abc.
4. the s4 finale was 2 weeks after the latest episode, and on a very late day of may 29. i know it faced no competition, but its tough to ask viewers to come back to tv for one night after essentially a week of nothing new.
5. adding in dvr for viewing for s3 and s4 would give a better sense for viewership. lost viewers are generally young and fairly wealthy. they record the show and watch it whenever. also factored in are internet downloads (well over 100k on eztv torrent site) and legal watching of the show online. i know its not much, but its there.
Appreciate the information about the most rewarding show on TV for any viewer that has stuck with the show. It’s like a party that really gets good once the so-so people (the inattentive viewers) leave. But to be fair, and to really compare apples to apples, the kind of viewers that “Lost” attracts are the ones that use their DVR to the maximum, and the viewers that acquired DVRs in the past 18 months. You really must compare DVR+7 days for all four seasons to truly measure the attrition. And the move to 10 pm definitely explains the increased DVR viewing, because “Lost” cannot be watched with one eye on the TV while you put your kid to bed or wash the dishes. Viewers are waiting to watch “Lost” later when there are no distractions.
Rob, there is no way to measure live plus seven for all four years as it wasn’t measured. It’s not even worth doing this year vs last year either because of the difference of panels so unfortunately there is no way to do a true apples to apples comparison. Roughly speaking you can count on about a 1.5 million difference between these numbers and the live plus seven numbers with regard to the season 4.
the best news about analyzing any kind of lost ratings info is that without a doubt, the final 2 seasons of the show will made. those declining numbers right there really on hurt the bank accounts of disney, which im not really losing any sleep over.
I COULD WAIT 2 YEARS FOR THIS SHOW. THE BEST DRAMA ON TV. FITTING FINALE !!! GREAT CLIFFHANGER !!! ARGH !!! I LOVE THIS SHOW !!! IF I HAD ONLY ONE SHOW TO CHOOSE FROM OUT OF THE SPECTRUM THE ONLY SHOW I WOULD CHOOSE IS LOST !!!
I SHOULD PROBABLY MENTION THAT WHEN I DISCUSS LOST AROUND NON-LOST VIEWERS I SOUND SLIGHTLY BREATHLESS AND CRAZY !!! NO THAT IS DAMN GOOD ENTERTAINMENT (MOVIE/SPORTS) OR OTHERWISE…
watching LOST is the ultimate distraction
Tim periods and DVR usage must considered in these comparisons. Season 1, Lost aired in the 8pm timeslot; moved to 9pm for season two and the season premiere of season three, however, when it returned in mid-season for season 3, it became a 10pm show and that's when the audience drop started. It was that point LOST DVR numbers also increased. I believe ABC basically taught viewers that there was another way to enjoy the show once they moved it into the 10pm time slot. In addition, by airing the show in that late hour, a drop off occured with younger viewers.
Tim periods and DVR usage must considered in these comparisons. Season 1, Lost aired in the 8pm timeslot; moved to 9pm for season two and the season premiere of season three, however, when it returned in mid-season for season 3, it became a 10pm show and that's when the audience drop started. It was that point LOST DVR numbers also increased. I believe ABC basically taught viewers that there was another way to enjoy the show once they moved it into the 10pm time slot. In addition, by airing the show in that late hour, a drop off occured with younger viewers.