Let's do the numbers

This being a data-oriented effort and all, I’m going to give you weekly TV numbers, with some commentary and context on what they mean.

Ratings don’t come as fast as they used to. Partly that’s because overnight Nielsen numbers, which used to be the definitive word in how a show performed, don’t really mean that much anymore outside of live events. Your typical comedy or drama will grow by at least 50 percent, and often more, within a week thanks to streaming and DVR playback. And since the big three broadcasters’ parent companies all own streaming services (ABC/Hulu, CBS/Paramount+ and NBC/Peacock), that additional viewing matters.

Nielsen has also changed the way it collects ratings information, adding a big data element to its long-standing panel of TV homes, and that pushes the release of same-day ratings back a day or so. Weekly ratings for broadcast and cable used to get distributed on Tuesday mornings; now they come on Wednesday afternoon. Streaming ratings, which lag by about a month due to Nielsen’s deal with its clients, arrive on Thursdays.

All of that is to say that this weekly post will usually reach your inboxes late on Thursday, once all the numbers are in. Below are the weekly totals for March 9-15 for linear networks and Feb. 16-22 for streaming.

*The Oscars had their smallest audience since 2022, falling by about 9 percent after four straight years of post-pandemic growth. The decline was pretty similar to those for the Golden Globes and Grammys, which were both down about 6.5 percent.

**Marshals fell behind its Sunday lead-out Tracker for the first time in its three episodes so far. Whether that’s an Oscars-influenced anomaly or the start of a trend remains to be seen, but the show has had a bang-up start. Its first two episodes averaged a huge 18.9 million viewers after a week of cross-platform viewing.

***D’oh.

(Note: Viewers for nightly newscasts are averages of their weeknight broadcasts. Weekend ones are noted by day)

*Outside of football season or when there are big live events, ABC World News Tonight often gets more viewers than any primetime show.

**The selection show for the men’s NCAA hoops tournament had its biggest audience in 12 years. The women’s selection show on ESPN drew 1.26 million people, down some year to year.

***Based on its performance so far this season, High Potential’s audience will more than double after a week of streaming/DVR.

*Down significantly from the premiere week of its second season, maybe partly because it opened during the final week of the Winter Olympics — which, if they were part of this chart (Nielsen doesn’t include live programming in its streaming rankings) would have had as much watch time as the top seven shows combined.

**Big bump for The Hunting Party, the NBC crime drama, after its first season was added to Netflix.

***The first seven episodes of The Pitt’s second season have rolled up 2 ½ times more viewing minutes than season one’s first seven.

*Nothing about Stranger Things’ performance is normal, but it’s damn near unheard of in the Nielsen rankings to have an original show still making the top 10 seven weeks after its finale.

**Nielsen classifies Veronica Mars as an original streaming show even though just the fourth season was made for Hulu (all four are on Netflix, but Hulu has just the 2019 one).

Photo: Luke Grimes in Marshals, cr. Sonja Flemming/CBS

Thanks for reading. Tell your friends about The Data Stream!