U.S. TV Season: Most Watched Formats of 2016-2017

The Bachelor

U.S. format market has a new leader - The Bachelor. Final ratings for the 2016-2017 season.

Thursday, June 08, 2017

Main U.S. television season is over and there's a new leader of unscripted formats. 'The Bachelor' became nr. 1 show of the 2016-2017 season with 3.1 rating in the commercial demo according to Nielsen, sligthly growing over previous season and achieving higher ratings than the long time leader 'The Voice'. NBC's singing competition declined over previous season, however still achieves ratings much higher than channel's average.

Below are the final numbers for the 2016-2017 season. Shows of broadcast channels are included:

 

Ratings of prime time unscripted formats in 2016-2017 season
(September 2016-May 2017. Target group 18-49. All data are “most current,” meaning inclusion of time shifted viewing up to 7 days if available. Source: The Nielsen Company)

# Show Channel Timeslot Format seller 2016-2017 average Show v. channel's average Show v. 2015-2016 season
1. The Bachelor ABC Mon 8PM Warner Bros. 3.1 +1.5 +0.1
2. The Voice NBC Mon 8PM Talpa 3.0 +1.0 -0.5
3. The Voice (Tuesdays) NBC Tue VAR Talpa 2.8 +0.8 -0.3
4. Survivor CBS Wed 8PM Castaway Television 2.5 +0.7 -0.3
5. Dancing with the Stars ABC Mon 8PM BBC Worldwide 2.1 0.5 -0.1
6. Hunted CBS Wed, Sun VAR Endemol Shine 2.0 +0.2 N/A
7. Little Big Shots NBC Sun 8PM Warner Bros. 1.8 -0.2 -0.5
8. The Wall NBC Mon, Tue VAR Endemol Shine 1.6 -0.4 N/A
9. Hell's Kitchen FOX Thu, Fri 8PM ITV Studios 1.5 -0.3 -0.2
10. Shark Tank ABC Fri 9PM Sony Pictures Television 1.5 -0.1 -0.4
11. MasterChef Junior Fox Thu VAR Endemol Shine 1.4 -0.4 -0.4
12. The Amazing Race CBS Thu VAR Disney Media Distribution 1.4 -0.4 -0.3
13. The Apprentice NBC Mon VAR FremantleMedia 1.3 -0.7 N/A
14. The Great American Baking Show ABC Thu 9PM BBC Worldwide 1.2 -0.4 +0.1
15. Undercover Boss CBS Wed, Fri 8PM All3media International 1.1 -0.7 -0.2
16. Match Game ABC Wed, Sun VAR FremantleMedia 1.1 -0.5 N/A
17. To Tell the Truth ABC Sun 9PM FremantleMedia 1.0 -0.6 N/A
18. My Kitchen Rules Fox Thu 9:01 PM Endemol Shine 0.9 -0.9 N/A
19. First Dates NBC Fri 8PM Warner Bros. 0.9 -1.1 N/A
20. Saturday Night Live - Prime NBC Sat VAR NBCUniversal 0.8 -1.2 0.0
21. The Toy Box ABC Fri 8PM Electus 0.7 -0.9 N/A
22. Kicking & Screaming Fox Thu VAR Lionsgate 0.7 -1.1 N/A

Other key facts:

  • 'Survivor' is a steady performer, with just a decent decrease over previous season and still overperforming channel's average. The same for 'Dancing with the Stars'
  • 'Hunted' is the best new format of the season. 'The Wall' entered U.S. market well too and was renewed for a new season
  • 'The New Celebrity Apprentice' returned with a new host and lost viewers over previous season in 2015. Full analysis here
  • 'Saturday Night Live' has seen a succesuful season and broke some records, as The Hollywood Reporter says (ratings out of prime-time aren't included in the chart above). The format was also sold to France in 2017 with M6 making its own version inspired by U.S. original
  • New shows with not enough episodes yet were not included. However, 'Beat Shazam' and 'Love Connection' were mediocre with season premieres and 'You the Jury' was very low
  • New formats 'The Toy Box' and 'Kicking & Screaming' underperformed and weren't renewed yet. 'The Toy Box' aired on challenging and usually low-rated Friday night

 

Some of the scripted formats in 2016-2017 season
(target group 18-49. All data are “most current,” meaning inclusion of time shifted viewing up to 7 days if available. Source: The Nielsen Company)

Show Channel Timeslot Format seller 2016-2017 average Show v. channel's average Show v. 2015-2016 season
Grey's Anatomy ABC Thursday 8PM Disney Media Distribution 3.4 +1.8 -0.3
2 Broke Girls CBS Monday VAR Warner Bros. 1.8 0.0 -0.5
Jane The Virgin The CW Monday VAR Electus 0.7 0.0 0.0
No Tomorrow The CW Tuesday VAR Grupo Globo 0.3 -0.4 N/A

Source of all data: Nielsen