Comments on: Joss Whedon's Dollhouse scratches its way to #1 on iTunes!

By: SmartRemarks » The toys in Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse

SmartRemarks » The toys in Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:33:36 +0000

[...] many of them are home on Friday nights), and moreover that the premier episode hit number one among iTunes video downloads in the days that followed. (I don’t know, but would surmise, that it did well in Hulu [...]

By: Dollhouse tops charts… « The humans are dead

Dollhouse tops charts… « The humans are dead — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:47:18 +0000

[...] to TV by the numbers a show need only be purchased roughly 25,000 times per week to hit # 1. When you compare that to [...]

By: Ratings Results for the Week of February 15th - Dollhouse Sinking « Axiom’s Edge Network Ratings Tracker

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:53:48 +0000

[...] not just yet. The show still gets a little leeway since it runs on Fridays, and it did make it to number one on the iTunes television downloads list this past week. Dollhouse still has a chance at this point if its [...]

By: Tidbits from the sci-fi world… | Jedi Knight Academy

Tidbits from the sci-fi world… | Jedi Knight Academy — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:12:04 +0000

[...] io9 thinks that Dollhouse is possible now, with our existing brain manipulating tech. But will they make us as good looking as Eliza Dushku? Meanwhile, the Dollhouse first episode “Ghost” climbed to the top of the TV episodes list on iTunes. [...]

By: Weekly TV Wrap Up - February 19th, 2009 - Screen Rant

Weekly TV Wrap Up - February 19th, 2009 - Screen Rant — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:02:14 +0000

[...] Source: TV By The Numbers [...]

By: P:SI 334 “Pollyanna v. Gloomy Fiction Perspective is Key” | Project: Shadow

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:23:22 +0000

[...] Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse scratches its way to #1 on iTunes! (via TV by the numbers) [...]

By: Cancellation Watch – What are the Chances for Dollhouse and The Sarah Connor Chronicles? « Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:55:43 +0000

[...] this season. The show also scored well with the coveted young male viewers. In addition, downloading of the pilot pushed it to number one on iTunes this week. I’m not certain how much that will affect the network’s decision when it comes to [...]

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:39:19 +0000

Whedon is fortunate because he does have an extremely dedicated fan base that will shell out the cash and put him at #1 on itunes. Unfortunately the majority of the people purchasing the episode are not new viewers. So I’m not really sure being #1 on itunes is going to matter all that much. The number of live viewers will probably be the same next week and I highly doubt the itunes pay out is going to be enough to influence the execs at Fox. I sure hope that the Doll House budget isn’t very high, because if it is, it’s not going to last very long.

By: y

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:49:11 +0000

Getting on iTunes #1 list might mean more buzz for the show!

By: Ant

Ant — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:08:49 +0000

Does anyone have links to the most viewed shows on Hulu?

By: Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse scratches its way to #1 on iTunes! | TVomg.com

Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse scratches its way to #1 on iTunes! | TVomg.com — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:09:40 +0000

[...] [Source] Share and Enjoy: [...]

By: Hot Pocket

Hot Pocket — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:03:20 +0000

FOX should probably be patient with this show as its gotten Friday more buzz than other show has since Moonlight left earlier last year.

iTunes don’t mean anything but in the long run maybe networks should iTunes as a reference for when deciding to renew a show.

By: ljo

ljo — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:28:39 +0000

Brandon, no one is forcing you to read the ITunes related articles.

By: eva

eva — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:12:30 +0000

dollhouse rocks in every category!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Brandon

Brandon — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:00:26 +0000

Seriously… enough with the “Dollhouse-on-Itunes” “news”. I get that this site’s new purpose is to be as snarcastic as possible when it comes to all things Dollhouse, but it doesn’t HAVE to be mentioned every single day. It’s just odd how it’s acknowledged how meaningless iTunes rankings are, yet they are reported on daily. Maybe someone can setup a sister site – itunesbythenumbers.com. Everyone fascinated by iTunes sales rankings can go there, if they want… or just go to iTunes and look at the screen themselves.

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:14:00 +0000

It’s in second place behind Family Guy this morning.

By: T

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:51:51 +0000

ITUNES doesnt really help that much
Blood Ties (Lifetime’s version of Moonlight (and it was made before moonlight)) was #1 on ITUNES and never got a real second season (the 22 episodes were shot as season one but were split and lifetime aired all of them except…the series finale lol)

By: Chris the TV Sage

Chris the TV Sage — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:27:17 +0000

Dudes: they win over what? You do realize that more popular TV shows are also illegally downloaded too, right?

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:52:00 +0000

@John T. Folden: it’s a good way to frame it. I think downloads being big business is probably more than two years out. Based on the current business models as I understand them, in very, very round numbers iTunes downloads would need to be much closer to one million downloads of a new episode in a week than 50,000. Hulu usage would probably have to grow by at least 10x of whatever it is, and they’d also have to add more advertising. I’ll do a post some day laying out more of a numeric framework for thinking about it.

Roland – to answer your question only because Dollhouse just premiered, its ratings were discussed nine months before that out of fear of bad ratings and cancellation and it was a slow, long, holiday weekend. Even though Lost’s ratings are down, at over a 4.0 rating with 18-49s, it’s in absolutely no danger of being cancelled. But if iTunes had a Top TV show widget, I would add it to the site

By: Roland

Roland — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:58:30 +0000

My question is: why dollhouse take so much advertising on this website? If you cover this then you have to cover Lost for example… #1 spot for four consecutive day at least.

By: John T. Folden

John T. Folden — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:50:33 +0000

Torrent traffic might as well not even exist… it’s worthless.

By: Dudes

Dudes — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:21:37 +0000

Add in the bit torrent traffic and dollhouse and battlestar win!!!!

By: John T. Folden

John T. Folden — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:00:47 +0000

The question I have is.. how big do the downloads have to be before iTunes really does have an effect on the renewal/cancelation of a series. It may not help Dollhouse, but a couple years down the road it could be big business.

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:54:38 +0000

or maybe they just want to watch it on their iPhone/iPod Touch or via Apple TV! Will many want to do that? No, not for any particular episode of a show. Again, we estimate that it probably took Dollhouse somewhere around 25,000 downloads to hit #1.

I’m sure the Hulu viewing is at least 10X as much, but that would still roughly be 50X less than those who saw it on TV, and with 1/8th of the advertising.

By: Ana

Ana — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:43:13 +0000

Well stop keep saying hulu, hulu, hulu, people. We get it!! They probably do know why wouldnt they? They just wanna give the show’s cast and producer what they DESERVE.

By: Cookson

Cookson — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:40:17 +0000

More profit for LOST… I’m happy.

By: Jared

Jared — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:34:34 +0000

I guess commercials are just too much of a pain for some people.

By: John

John — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:29:01 +0000

Do these people realize you can see this on hulu for free?

By: Mikey

Mikey — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:03:25 +0000

I think your estimate is reasonable. I know of at least one show last year that hit #1 on itunes with fewer than 25,000 downloads.

Not exactly the same but similar: a friend of mine produced podcasts that were regularly #1 on itunes and averaged 20-25,000 downloads a week

By: Rachel P

Rachel P — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:50:46 +0000

Maybe… Just maybe… My purchase can make all the difference!

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:47:01 +0000

Family Guy and Desperate Housewives pushed it down…but not far. It’s currently #11

By: Rachel P

Rachel P — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:45:26 +0000

Terminator! Noooooooo!

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:38:00 +0000

we do kind of know. Even Heroes typically does ~50K in the first week after a new episode (it winds up with more over the course of time, with the most I’ve seen at ~180K after over two months). Among NBC shows that it posts some data for, Heroes is by far and away its number one downloaded show on iTunes.

On an estimate, 25K or even less downloads could’ve captured that number one spot.

By: JS

JS — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:33:50 +0000

It’s interesting how so many low rated shows are so high on Itunes…Gossip Girl and Mad Men are notorious for launching to #1 so fast!

I guess it would be note-worthy if these eps sold the same amount as the #1 song. I wish we knew…