Comments on: NBC serves 1 billion full episode streams

By: Craig

Craig — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:54:16 +0000

I think there are alot of fans for the show “Chuck” that are not being countered towards Neilsen ratings. Neilsen ratings are a flawed, outdated form of rating TV shows. I think NBC is aware of this fact and they are looking at a number of options with their shows. This has factored into Friday Night Lights being renewed for 2 more seasons. Once a show gets renewed, the fan base settles down and fans of other shows become more noticable. THis is the case for “Chuck.”

I think Chuck has a good chance for renewal based upon the fan response online and via other sources. NBC cannot afford to upset loyal fan bases for shows. I think there are some audience members that are still very upset with NBC over the handling of the show “Las Vegas” last year. With increased competition from other networks an cable networks, network execs have to be careful on how they handle some shows and their fan bases.

My guess is that Chuck will be renewed for an initial 13 episode commitment and depending on how the Jay Leno hour works out, it could be increased. NBC will most likely get a lot of pressure for local affiliates about the Jay Leno show and most likley start re-working their schedule in time for spring, which could help shows like Chuck. NBC will want to make the best out of their Olympic coverage and will be watching things closely during the fall. Thursday nights will be key for NBC and Monday nights are also very important. With DVR usage and online stream usage, NBC and the advertisers will be paying attention and go from there. At least with online streaming, you still watch the advertisements unlike DVR, where you can just skip. Online Streaming is more important to the networks than some people give it. (always read in between the lines on articles like this)

By: P

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:10:19 +0000

I would switch it to 11. Chuck Fans/People that don’t stop b*tching about Chuck Fans(tie)

By: dave

dave — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:41:51 +0000

Top 10 annoying fans,

1. Star Trek Fans (1 good series TNG, 4 mediocre ones. Shut up.)
2-5. Whedon Fans (He’s a genius, but enough already.)
6. Moonlight Fans
7. Jericho Fans (Peanuts?)
8. Heroes Fans (Do they love it or hate it, pick a side.)
9. The Sarah Connor Chronicles Fans
10. American Idol Fans (Clay-niacs in particular.)

11. Chuck Fans

How’s that for a top 10, Jack. For the record I like a lot of these shows and their fans, so no hard feelings. This was just for fun.

By: JT

JT — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:35:32 +0000

T, great point. I read the press release expecting to see something about Chuck numbers but there wasn’t anything about any individual show’s count so what’s the point in bringing it up? Trying to stir the pot I’m sure.

By: T

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:11:59 +0000

I’m a bit disappointed with this site, this article in particular.. You pretty much made it clear that everything about this site seems to be about Chuck. And why all the CHUCK fans just manage to make everything about them. Well here’s the fact, why the hell would you put CHUCK on this article? The press release itself doesn’t state the show. But still you somehow made this article about Chuck. And please don’t give me that people would certainly ask. Here’s the deal, reply when you see someone asking. And someone would comment something negative about Chuck and the whole thing just turns into the whole debate just like any other article that has Chuck on it. If people in this site is pretty much sick of Chuck fans, whining on how the show should get renewed or whatever for that matter, just please, avoid any necessary article that doesn’t really matter to the show itself. It’s getting too annoying and disappointing. I’m just frustrated that everyone seems to be hitting on CHUCK fans alone when all the while articles like this are posted which would prompt someone to comment like the first one. I mean is that really necessary?!

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:51:35 +0000

CHUCK fans are not even in the top 10 of passionately annoying fans. People who pretend they are have no clue.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:22:53 +0000

Press releases like this from NBC really annoy me. I’m 25…I don’t have the history of TV watching under my belt yet that I’ll be able to look back on one day, but I AM old enough to remember growing up through the days of Friends and Seinfeld and the tail end of LA Law giving way to ER. I have memories of NBC as a once proud network…now I read releases like this and its like they’ve become that shady guy in your office that spends all day making “spreadsheets” that aren’t really relevant to the work your company actually does. To issue a press release which in essence is NBC patting itself on the back for providing a service that, from everything I read, doesn’t really seem to yield any impact-worthy or meaningful results comes off as disingenuous. If using the Rewind player truly has become “mainstream”, it should carry the same weight as other mainstream activity like…oh, I don’t know…TV viewing, perhaps? I’m not saying I equate the two, on the contrary, if you’re the perennial also-ran that NBC has become, I think its dangerous to imply to whatever viewers you have left that online viewing actually matters, when, by all accounts, it doesn’t seem to. Interest of full disclosure, I am a Chuck-lover (which I’ve noticed engenders a kind of love/hate thing around here) and a Life-lover…both are in trouble, Life obviously MUCH much more so, probably over…and in all honesty, I’d abide by whatever metric sees one or both shows return, and it just bugs the hell out of me to read self-congratulatory prattle like this press release while, to use a historical metaphor, the city is burning around them.

By: Josh Emerson

Josh Emerson — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:08:22 +0000

Duncan, if you think us Chuck fans are bad, go take a look at fans of Supernatural and One Tree Hill. They don’t come to this site so much, but they’re all over other TV blogs.

By: FrankJ

FrankJ — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:58:05 +0000

Something else, NBC also has this thing where you can download an HD player, and sort of “rent” TV episodes in HD. They let you download the entire episode and you can watch it over the course of two days or something. I bet they have some nice juicy data on those viewers, because you have to sign up for that, become a member and give them all your information.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:54:57 +0000

“That would be something people do for Chuck.”

Yep, definitely something I do, though more on Hulu than on NBC.com.

By: FrankJ

FrankJ — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:54:07 +0000

I think the deception is NBC just doesn’t want anyone to sift through their show data to see which shows are popular online, they just want to brag about how “popular” NBC is. I mean they have to be able to differentiate downloads by IP address, even if they break up a show into streams. I would imagine the streams are segmented at each commercial break, so NBC knows how long you watch, if you pause it, whatever. They probably also want to know how many new viewers – say, people who watch Office or Chuck, and then click on over to watch Southland – they have. Do they have viewers who watch a specific show only, or are people more apt to be drawn into NBC’s other offerings with certain shows already on the air? I would imagine this is the kinds of psychological data on viewers executives love to parse over.

By: Duncan

Duncan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:51:45 +0000

That would be something people do for Chuck.

Seriously I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen such a fervent fanbase for a show’s renewal that’s borderline on the annoying side, but at least we know that there is a fanbase out there that seems to be very passionate and quite large.

I wonder if NBC could take this fanbase and try to work side by side to promote the show, after all, traditional television is going out the window, so why not just throw out traditional advertising medium that’s going to less and less people each year??