Think your favorite broadcast primetime shows draw more men than women? You might be surprised.
In response to the many discussions in our comments about which broadcast shows skew more male or female, I decided to run some numbers so that folks could see to what extent female viewers outnumber male viewers for almost every show in broadcast primetime.
As I've noted many times, except for Fox's Sunday animated lineup, shows that "skew male" are few and far between. The only non animated shows with more male 18-49 viewers were Chuck, Fringe and 24.
A few things that surprised me. Chuck being so "high" on the list. Would not have guessed that. And American Idol not being nearer the "bottom" of the list, I'm surprised there are relatively that many men watching it.
Enjoy perusing the list.
1.00 = equal ratings for men and women 18-49
below 1.0 = more men
above 1.0 = more women
| Show | Women / Men 18-49 |
| Simpsons | 0.67 |
| Family Guy | 0.68 |
| Cleveland Show | 0.71 |
| Chuck | 0.83 |
| Fringe | 0.95 |
| 24 | 0.97 |
| V | 1.00 |
| Dateline NBC | 1.00 |
| Til Death | 1.00 |
| Rules of Engagement | 1.04 |
| Minute To Win It | 1.06 |
| Office | 1.06 |
| 60 Minutes | 1.07 |
| Trauma | 1.13 |
| Two and a Half Men | 1.19 |
| Big Bang Theory | 1.19 |
| NCIS | 1.19 |
| Community | 1.20 |
| How I Met Your Mother | 1.21 |
| Accidentally On Purpose | 1.21 |
| Celebrity Apprentice | 1.22 |
| NCIS:LA | 1.25 |
| Lost | 1.25 |
| Supernatural | 1.27 |
| 30 Rock | 1.27 |
| Modern Family | 1.28 |
| CSI: Miami | 1.29 |
| House | 1.31 |
| The Middle | 1.31 |
| Bones | 1.33 |
| Old Christine | 1.38 |
| Survivor: Heroes v. Villians | 1.40 |
| Mentalist | 1.46 |
| FlashForward | 1.46 |
| CSI | 1.55 |
| CSI:NY | 1.55 |
| Criminal Minds | 1.57 |
| Extreme Makeover Home Edition | 1.62 |
| American Idol - Tues | 1.64 |
| Marriage Ref | 1.64 |
| The Good Wife | 1.65 |
| American Idol - Wed | 1.67 |
| Law & Order | 1.73 |
| Glee | 1.76 |
| Law & Order:SVU | 1.84 |
| Cougar Town | 1.89 |
| 90210 | 2.00 |
| Parenthood | 2.00 |
| Castle | 2.00 |
| The Vampire Diaries | 2.00 |
| Mercy | 2.00 |
| The Biggest Loser | 2.06 |
| Desperate Housewives | 2.19 |
| DWTS Tues | 2.36 |
| Brothers & Sisters | 2.43 |
| One Tree Hill | 2.50 |
| DWTS Mon | 2.64 |
| Private Practice | 2.71 |
| Gossip Girl | 2.83 |
| Fly Girls | 3.00 |
| High Society | 3.00 |
| Grey's Anatomy | 3.18 |
| America's Next Top Model | 3.50 |
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Note: The list contains the ratio of the ratings for women 18-49 to men 18-49 for the airing of each show in the past week with several caveats: (1) I took the ratings for both repeats and original episodes. Maybe repeats have a different gender skew than originals for the same show, but going back over more than one week was too much work. (2) We only see gender information for shows broadcast on Sunday-Thursday, so no Friday or Saturday shows in the list. (3) This is a ratio of the gender ratings, not the number of men and women viewers. There are slightly more women 18-49 than men 18-49 in the TV population, but the difference is so small I didn't bother going through an extra step.
Where's NBC's Thursday night lineup on this list?
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Guys are generally more tech savvy, and impatient, we probably download and YouTube/hulu/whatevertf we can find more, because it doesn't have ads, and if somebody is talking in the background, we can pause the vid, then yell at them, and start playing again.
A Good list to see, most of those are expected.
@ Bill was wondering if there would be a follow up of sorts, but with cable shows, as a fan of Sons of Anarchy a series known for drawing the men crowd, was wondering how other cable shows would match up.
Given that men are the harder group to reach this could be a reason why Fringe and Chuck were brought back last season (and why Fringe is back next season). Any show that's high on this has a much better shot at renewal with lower relative ratings to a show that's low on the list. The only shock to me is that Lost isn't higher and the large difference between Castle and Bones.
And where is BBT? Was it not on last week?
Now there's a stat that could actually help Chuck's chances. I know its numbers are still low, but if it's getting better M18-34 viewers than shows with higher 18-49 demos, that could be bringing in enough extra ad revenue to justify keeping it.
There won't be a similar post for cable shows unless some nice cable network research folks would like to drop some numbers on us. (Hint!) We don't see gender breakdowns for any cable ratings in the data we regularly see.
Damn. Left BBT off as well because at one point I was going to search for new episodes only. Will add it in.
Oh well that kinda sucks, but I suppose this list will do (for now).
Damn you Holly I believed you when you told me, many a post ago, that Chuck did not skew male heavy!
Now I can never trust you again. LOL
Nevermind how can I stay mad at Holly Hepburn looking at me all Black & White.
A while ago i found on a french website a similar list (it only concerned April and May 2009) :
http://www.audiencesusa.com/article-decouvrez-q…
interesting. I agree though, these numbers are good for chuck, but surprising. considering much of the internet chatter about the show is about the Chuck/Sarah will they/won't they, I just figured it skewed female. Although it is an action spy show with a smoking hot female lead, often in lingerie.
Lost is more female skewing then I expected although I suspect that might be a result of airing on ABC.
Fox seems to be the only network that can draw men in the same type of way that it can women. Would shows with premises that seem like they'd appeal to men do even better on Fox? 2.5 men, Community and TBBT come to mind.
Obviously sports skew male as well. You should throw SNF numbers up there if you have them.
Did you leave out human target?
My apologies. I did not intentionally mislead you.
My fav show at the bottom and second fav show near bottom
Help I have gender issues here! My shows skew at the top,near the middle and near the bottom! Damn it which way do I skew? I cannot tell people I skew both ways thats dirty! :O
No Medium or Ghost Whisperer? Is that because they weren't on last week? I assume they'd be at PP or Greys Level although I am really shocked at The Good Wife. I figured it would be at those levels too.
I guess I watch a lot of female centric shows than! Though I do love The Simpsons
The Bachelor isn't on the list. Probably divides by zero.
Curious, is having a high female demo a good thing or a bad thing? I know CW really likes that demo but I'm wondering if other networks do to? I know that 18-49 is the one that really matters but is it better to have more women or men in that demo?
Why isn't Smallville on the list?