Lots of "ratings were down because of new moon" comments in our Thursday ratings post. And while reports are that the movie will be doing very well at the box office, there were nearly as many people watching television in the main adult demo groups last night as there were last Thursday.
Thursday 11/19 vs. Thursday 11/12 primetime averages (8-11pm)
Adults 18-34: 32.6% watching TV vs. 34.3% (down 1.7%)
Adults 18-49: 36.5% watching TV vs. 37.9% (down 1.4%)
More likely the decline in broadcast network viewing was due to some viewers being siphoned off by the NFL Network's Dolphins/Panthers game. Last Thursday's game drew about 4 million average viewers. No word yet on last night's game ratings, but they are likely to be somewhat similar.
Update: Robert agrees with the spirit of the post above, but not the letter of it.
So let’s ignore the 8000lb gorilla in the room that will top almost all box office records.
Brad, I see even the data fails to convince. Oh well.
It’s going to break the midnight record, November record and maybe the Opening Day record(though that’ll be tough) it has no chance at any other substantial record.
Granted, I don’t count, but if I went to see New Moon last night I wouldn’t have watched Bones, Fringe, Vampire Diaries, Community or The Office.
And it’s not “Twilight: New Moon”. It’s just New Moon. The dubbed it the Twilight Saga so peeps wouldn’t be confused.
Now excuse me while I go put on my “I love boys who sparkle” panties.
The movie opened at midnight. It was not in direct competition with any of these shows.
AK, I can see the argument that it was in competition, due to lining up early and Twilight being shown earlier, and selling out like crazy as well. But the data just isn’t there. At all.
AK,
Unless you didn’t turn on your TV last night or failed to read a newspaper or any online blogging, some people lined up 12+ hours before just to see the film. Some Theaters (about half) also showed Twilight at 9pm. You couldn’t just ‘walk into’ the film at 11:50.
Ok, let me put it like this: not many adults 18-49 would be out watching some terrible teen flick.
John,
Incorrect. Many adults were forced to go out because kids can’t be out past curphew. Many were dragged to see this film or just hung out at Starbucks until it was over. You don’t know the appeal this film has to women 12-40.
College and NFL football probably played a bigger role than New Moon. Why would anyone stand in line for movie tickets when you’ve been able to order them online for at least a week?
Thanks for the title correction
Brad, it doesn’t matter how long the lines were for TV ratings! The number of 18-34 and 18-49 year olds watching TV last night was almost exactly the same as last Thursday!
Lester’s,
Many sites were sold out of pre-ordered tickets. Plus, tweens just like the atmosphere of waiting out there with friends, chatting, playing games etc. It’s an experience.
God help me why I know so much about this crap.
Bill,
Maybe they would have been higher had it not been for New Moon
I’m going with sunspots.
Originally Posted by Deadline Hollywood
BREAKING NEWS! FRIDAY AM: Rival studios are telling me this morning that Summit Entertainment’s New Moon debuted with $23M-$24M in 12:01AM screenings. That would set a new midnight opening record, smashing The Dark Knight’s $18.4M set on July 18, 2008, and Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince’s $22.2M set on July 15, 2009. Summit has yet to release an official number for the Twilight sequel’s midnight debut in 3,514 theaters.
Give me a break. As if those nuts standing in line 12+ hours to see a movie they already had a ticket for were at all representative of what was going on across the country. That’s like saying tv viewership was down for 2 months prior to the opening of “The Phantom Menace” because people were waiting in line that long.
I can guarantee if I had bought a ticket in advance, I very much could have just “walked into” it at 11:50.
While I agree that New Moon did not affect most of the shows in anyway…
Twitter pretty much showed all the evidence as to why Vampire Diaries and Supernatural (the CW shows) were down. All across Twitter, people were Tweeting, “Sad to be missing VD and SPN tonight so that I can New Moon!” And things similar to that.
So, while the viewers of Fringe or FlashForward might have been watching the football game… viewers of Supernatural and Vampire Diaries were probably getting their vamp-attire on for most of the evening.
Brad, who cares what it would have been if not for New Moon. The point is, almost everything was down on broadcast this week, but the data says, quite clearly, that they weren’t leaving broadcast for something out of the house. They left it for cable. Period. There’s no possible way to argue that it was due to New Moon, unless you care to ignore all facts in the case.
Maybe the low numbers are somehow tied to the promotion these shows get in Italy?