After a dismal fall, the Fox network finally got some good news Monday with the premiere of its highest-profile project of the year, “The Following.” Initial ratings for the intense, hyperviolent drama were solid, especially on a tough competitive night.
In the overnight ratings — which could be slightly adjusted later Tuesday — “The Following” averaged 10.38 million viewers and a 3.1 rating in the 18- to 49-year-old audience that Fox used for most of its advertising sales.
Both numbers represent an enormous improvement over the previous occupant of the Monday 9 p.m. time period. That series, “The Mob Doctor,” has been canceled. The drama trailed only CBS’s two comedies in that hour, “2 Broke Girls’ and “Mike and Molly,” in both overall audience and 18-to-49 rating.
That means “The Following” was able to beat two established reality shows, “The Biggest Loser” on NBC and “The Bachelor” on ABC, both of which reached season highs Monday night.
Perhaps the best news for Fox was that the audience in the 18-to-49 category grew slightly in the second half-hour of “The Following,” which usually indicates that the viewers who tried it liked it.
Fox, which has put an enormous and costly marketing effort behind “The Following,” also heavily promoted the show as one that a viewer should record on a DVR so it can be watched later. That may mean the series will get a strong bump when delayed rating numbers begin to arrive in three days.
Fox executives, who have acknowledged they have much riding on “The Following,” had expressed concern that some backlash against the show’s graphic violence could hinder its chances.
Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/the-following-on-fox-opens-with-good-ratings/?partner=rss&emc=rss
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