‘Downton Abbey’ Returns to a Record Audience

The proof is in the ratings for the show’s fourth-season premiere on Sunday, which not only set a record for the series, with 10.2 million viewers, but also further confirmed “Downton” as a major player in what has become a golden age for drama on television.

The audience for the “Downton Abbey” premiere on PBS was almost exactly the same size as that for the series finale of “Breaking Bad” on AMC, this season’s most-talked-about episode of television drama. That finale averaged 10.3 million viewers. (In both cases, the figures are for only the audiences who watched the episodes the nights they were on; the numbers grow significantly when delayed viewing is counted.)

The “Downton” audience was also virtually the same as that for this season’s premiere of “Scandal,” the hot drama on ABC (10.5 million).

“Downton” easily topped a host of television’s most celebrated cable dramas in terms of viewership. “Mad Men” on AMC had 3.4 million viewers for its most recent premiere. “Game of Thrones” on HBO had 4.4 million for its initial airing. The recent season finale of “Homeland” on Showtime had 2.4 million viewers.

“Downton” fits into the same category as those shows in several respects. It is a serial drama, runs each season for a limited number of episodes and benefits from binge watching. In the case of “Downton,” viewers are able to catch up on previous seasons on Amazon Prime. (They had been available on Netflix until this past July.)

The success of “Downton Abbey” continues to grow, despite the fact that the events of each season can easily be learned in advance. The season is broadcast in the fall on British television. PBS, however, continues to resist synchronizing with the British airing.

The PBS president, Paula Kerger, has defended that decision, saying “Downton” has become a “post-holiday tradition” for fans in the United States. Gareth Neame, one of the show’s executive producers, said in a recent conversation that maintaining this schedule helps the series because it means that “Downton” avoids facing the fusillade of broadcast network premieres in the fall.

The success of “Downton” has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the television business. NBC has already signed Julian Fellowes, who writes every episode of “Downton,” to create a series for American television, a drama to be set in New York in the 1880s.

Mr. Fellowes said in a recent interview that he will write only the pilot for the NBC show before returning to write the fifth season of “Downton.”

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/business/media/downton-abbey-returns-to-a-record-audience.html?partner=rss&emc=rss