Newest episode hit with less than expected ratings

[Argumedies 1,748]

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2015/05/ratings-for-make-new-friends-are-in.html

 

Seriously, it's been one thing after another with FiM being owned by Discovery. The premiere constantaly getting advertised every week, the show being put on the backburner in favor of past gen stuff, a week long delay, and now this. How do we know that the ratings for the next episode will be just as bad, if not even worse? It's just becoming a snowball effect at this point. If this keeps up, how long will it get to the point when Discovery decides that the show is no longer a viable source of income for them?

Brace yourselves, the end of My Little Pony is comming...... Someday

 

 

Ya but this was probably due to the fact there was a break right after the worst episode ever (imho)

 

Although you would have thought with the hype that the episode got, the number would have been better

Edited May 22, 2015 by Argumedies

[Wind Chaser 4,767]

Apparently this is their lowest number since Season 3. I wouldn't be frantic but I would be a bit unsettled by it for some of the reasons stated here: http://mlp.derpynews.com/ratings-report-mlp-make-new-friends-but-keep-discord/

 

To shorten it; this episode comes after an off-week. There weren't that many in Season 4. Additionally, there is a three-week break before the much-hyped 100th episode. Also, they state that MLP is airing in the summer season now, and traditionally kids' shows aren't as strong in the summer because of increased outdoor activity. This show has plenty of periphery demographic, but kids and family co-viewing are still the main target of the show and if they can't pull that in, it won't look good.

[Plonkett 341]

And with this three week break, how do we know that the ratings for that won't be even worse than this one? This wouldn't be happening if the Hub was still here.

[GuillermoGage 246]

This show didn't get so popular because people watched it on TV, most people watch it online anyways. Watching an episode when it premieres or watching it a few hours or days later, the kids will still want to buy Hasbro's toys.

Indeed, I don't see the point of talking about "ratings" in the context of how many teevees were tuned into Discovery Family while that episode was on. It sorta makes sense for, like, gamers to talk about sales figures because that actually affects if they will continue to get certain games, but not here with My Little Pony.

 

Not only does a significant amount of the grownup/adolescent fandom that follows a current season not watch it on Discovery Family (often from simply pirating, or the stream-pirating of it, but hopefully some of us actually buy the show via iTunes, Google Play or Amazon if we can afford it)...

 

But even little kids don't even have the same Saturday morning cartoon habits of yore like that. Lots of little kids just start watching episode when they come across them wherever. Sometimes when they show up on Netflix, for as long as MLP stays there (if S5 ends in September, I guess we can expect it on Netflix circa January 2016)

 

I wonder how many parents buy season passes/whole seasons of kiddie TV shows for their kids in digital format.

 

Do digital purchases of media get announced to the public? I wonder how many people buy the show.

[ponyvangelist 732]

Well gosh, maybe I've been under-reacting.

 

[Unlikeable Pony 2,698]

On the note of Season 3 being bad, just going to voice my vote here that I hated S3 as well, and pretty much all the threads and info I've seen about it show it to be, BY FAR, the least liked of the seasons so far.




Anyways, while this isn't an "Its over!" bit of news, its still something that's troubling. You can't take a show succeeding for granted, and the show has been going on for a while now: Long enough that alot of its fans in the truly important part of its audience (the little girls) might be starting to outrgrow it. As such, its entirely possible that the ratings slipping might indicate that its on its downhill journey now as far as ratings and viewership go.
And the thing is, we have no guarantee that it will go on to a seventh season, and that's really high expectations. The only way we can KNOW that it'll keep going, in comics and cartoons and movies, is if the ratings keep staying high. and ANY slip is something to keep an eye on, yeah?


Additionally, in order for the Movie to really hit it big, it needs to be released at a time when fans are still very enthused about it, a high moment in the show as it were: and if the show starts to slip, its possible the movie might be released when its only doing "Okay", and I think that could be a very bad occurence if so: Hasbro REALLY needs a good return here from FIM to convince them that FIM is worth putting effort into for movies, like their transformers and GI joe franchises. This isn't the 80s: You need to really succeed well to guarantee more movies.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

How do we know that the ratings for the next episode will be just as bad, if not even worse?

I believe that the next episode's going to be AWESOME.  Rainbow Dash and Pinkie visit a Griffon city.  Let me break that down: Rainbow Dash.  And Pinkie.  And Griffons.  Equals awesome.  This is the first Dash n' Pinks episode since "Griffon the Brush Off."  So far as I see it, anyone who deliberately misses it is missing out.

 

Almost everybody in the fandom has voted season 3 as the worst season.

"Almost everybody in the fandom."  Unproven, unprovable, and unreliable statement.  Besides: I thought season three was great, and my opinion matters more to me than that of "almost everybody in the fandom." xD  How this or that Broner voted doesn't especially matter to me since I don't allow other people to decide what I do or don't like or whether or not it was good.

 

 

 

Most people hate Rarity and love Rainbow Dash, so it only makes sense for a season which cuts out Rarity and makes Rainbow Dash good to be the best.

When you care more for a certain pony, you're more likely to notice (and take to heart) the "hate" directed at them.  I've seen plenty lobbed at Rainbow.

[Pastel 7,627]

Who cares? The ratings aren't what's really important. It's the toys that keep this show alive.

I'm still a bit worried, it's the show that promotes the toys.

[Mesme Rize 15,681]

I'm still a bit worried, it's the show that promotes the toys.

 

You don't necessarily need the show to promote them. There are commercials, there is the internet, kids who walk pass these toys at random, begging their parents to buy this Pinkie Pie train.

 

Hasbro may make some controversial decisions, but they are not stupid.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,330]

We're talking ratings huh? I like how when one episode gets lower ratings, people freak out with the whole, "THE END IS NEIGH!" thing. 

 

I'm seeing a lot of hate on season 3. It may be my least favorite, but that doesn't mean it was downright terrible. A lot of people hating season does not mean it's a bad season. Also, ratings don't determine quality. So why did the episode get lower ratings? I have some theories.

 

1. There was a week of no new episodes before: Due to that, kids probably didn't know if there would be a new episode since there wasn't one a week before. They must have thought it went into some sort of summer hiatus or it wasn't advertised as well, which leads us into...

 

2. The episode wasn't advertised well: This has to do with Discovery Family's terrible way of advertising. They keep advertising the premiere which was over a month ago. At least the Hub advertised the episode that would actually aired instead of the same one, That really confuses the families.

[Plonkett 341]

I believe that the next episode's going to be AWESOME. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie visit a Griffon city. Let me break that down: Rainbow Dash. And Pinkie. And Griffons. Equals awesome. This is the first Dash n' Pinks episode since "Griffon the Brush Off." So far as I see it, anyone who deliberately misses it is missing out.

I meant to say about the 100th episode, my bad.

[cider float 2,536]

It was the best episode in season 5 in a long time.

[chirox the pony 1,334]

One episode having bad ratings isn't gonna kill the series, from what I understand the first season wasn't all that great in terms of ratings (at least compared to later seasons). And Discovery don't own MLP, it just owns the channel it airs on, the networks usually don't have much creative control. And Hasbro own shares in the channel so it would still be difficult to get it off that channel. So no there's nothing to panic about, not to mention the fact season six is already in development. 

[Plonkett 341]

And now the next episode won't be out until June the 13th, so who knows how the ratings for that episode will be.

[Steve Piranha 29,219]

We're talking ratings huh? I like how when one episode gets lower ratings, people freak out with the whole, "THE END IS NEIGH!" thing. 

 

I'm seeing a lot of hate on season 3. It may be my least favorite, but that doesn't mean it was downright terrible. A lot of people hating season does not mean it's a bad season. Also, ratings don't determine quality. So why did the episode get lower ratings? I have some theories.

 

1. There was a week of no new episodes before: Due to that, kids probably didn't know if there would be a new episode since there wasn't one a week before. They must have thought it went into some sort of summer hiatus or it wasn't advertised as well, which leads us into...

 

2. The episode wasn't advertised well: This has to do with Discovery Family's terrible way of advertising. They keep advertising the premiere which was over a month ago. At least the Hub advertised the episode that would actually aired instead of the same one, That really confuses the families.

Well, if the next episode's ratings are of any indication, the hiatus might be a main culprit of the lower ratings. Lost Treasure of Griffon Store got it's ratinfs back

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2015/05/lost-treasures-of-griffonstone-ratings.html

 

And now the next episode won't be out until June the 13th, so who knows how the ratings for that episode will be.

Yeah, if a one week long hiatus lowered ratings, I expect a two week long to lower it even more, unless they do some crazy advertising, after all, we're talking about the 100th episode right here  :okiedokielokie:

[ponyvangelist 732]

I'm glad The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone did well, but I'm not sure we can consider it a trend.

 

Because Griffons.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

I meant to say about the 100th episode, my bad.

Oh.  Is that the "background pony" episode?  I'm not especially looking forward to that one, myself. xD

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

Dude, relax. Just because one episode had lousy ratings doesn't mean they're going to can the show. The end is not neigh. The show has had multiple hiatuses before and we've gotten through all of them. Besides it's not like we've hit an all time low, Season 1 had low ratings and we're on the fifth season. The franchise is still making money so it wouldn't make any sense to cancel it now. We're going to get past this just wait and see. Yeah, we're on a three week hiatus, still don't worry about it.

 

Let me tell you something, there are shows out right now that have worse airing schedules than MLP right now. In fact MLP's airing schedule for the most part is fine. Let me give you an example, I'm a member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fandom and I'm following the current show. The current show is one of Nick's big moneymakers at the moment right now and the show is going on hiatus ever four episodes. The airing schedule is horrendous and it's still raking in large amounts of money. So relax if TMNT can do that you can be very confident that MLP can get through this small hiatus. It'll be business as usual, just you watch. The show's fine.