The season finale “didn’t work out” and symbolized the kinds of ratings troubles that ABC and other major broadcasters have seen recently, Disney CFO Jay Rasulo says. “Most of the networks are down and frankly a lot has to do with single shows” as opposed to troubles at ongoing series, he told the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference. When Dancing With The Stars decided to bring back celebrities from previous seasons “we thought it was a great idea,” Rasulo says.
“Turns out people didn’t want to see people who could dance. They wanted people who couldn’t dance. So it’s not easy to be a taste-master in programming a network.” Unlike CBS’ Les Moonves, Rasulo doesn’t blame DVRs for the networks’ troubles. Although DVR penetration is up about 7 percentage points this year, “the number of individuals who are fast-forwarding through ads has declined, so it’s had a net benefit.”
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Rasulo also says that video streaming has only had a “minimal” impact on the networks. “I don’t think it’s detracting from the advertising we’re being paid for….[YouTube] is not a place where premium advertisers are spending significant dollars.” Nevertheless, Disney wants advertisers to pay for viewers who watch up to seven days after a show airs — up from three. Rasulo also wants Nielsen to “measure where people consume media.” Still, he says, “at the end of the day, if you have great programming, you have great ratings.”


i often dont watch shows within the first 3 days. I watch most shows on DVR though because then I get an hour show watched in under 45 minutes
ABC is down in ratings because of the boycott and they seem to continue not to listen….ABC’s primetime shows has lost ratings since they cancelled the soaps….I pay a lot of attention to the ratings and they have fallen since ABC made a stupid mistake, and now their regretting it (even though they won’t admit it)….Karma….
I totally agree with you. ABC thought they had the man Fron who was going to train us to watch crap. Then Sweeney decided she would follow Fron. ABC has lost millions of soap viewers except GH. The only way we will come back to ABC is to see OLTL & AMC back on.
Re DWTS — I think the issue is less of not wanting to watch good dancers (puh-leeeze), than it is the ridiculous mix in this last season of fusion dances, non-ballroom dances, and inconsistent judging standards. Very much a turn off & insulting. It’s obvious to viewers that judges comments are based on what the producers want them to say in an effort to influence voting. Why, for example, is a carriage allowed at the beginning of one couple’s dance, but another gets marked down for “frippery” because their was a cow as prop on the stage? Makes no sense & viewers CAN TELL. I have no desire to watch the show because of this kind of nonsense. Would rather read & actually get entertained.
Finally someone is honest. Ratings r down because the shows r not good enough.
The walking Dead gets great numbers. Same for Revolution and The Voice. Same for other good shows.
But a few, as Les Moonves try to blame the bad ratings in silly stuff as dvr. TBBT is a good show, so it gets good numbers. Vegas and Hawaii 5o get bad numbers because they suck. As simple as that.
Use to watch it and love it but since they cancelled my soaps to hell with ABC.They seem to forget who there loyal viewers where.I changed my veiwing at night and will remain that way until I see One life to Live and All my children again.Only turn on ABC for General Hospital now.Take that off and I will block ABC for good.I missed the Oscars to and that was because it was on ABC.I have no problem boycotting AB day and night.They don’t give a damn about us faithful soap fans so we don’t give a damn about them.
People watch reality shows to see people fail, and fail hard. It goes back to Real World on MTV. You take a bunch of good looking people, who aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are, and put them together. They will act badly, at some point. Everyone does. I yell at my TV during sporting events. Only the cameras capture it.
DWTS feeds this human desire to see good looking/successful/intelligent people fail. By the end, people have ID’d with one of the better dancers and want them to win. But DWTS is like AI. We turn in early to see people fail. DWTS AS didn’t have that.
I no longer watch ABC period because they cancelled OLTL and AMC.Not going back until they bring the soaps back. A boycott is a boycott.
“at the end of the day, if you have great programming, you have great ratings.”
Brilliant statement! That’s the problem……the programming is NOT great and ABC’s ratings have reflected that fact. The execs at the Networks are too concerned with profits and the heck with quality programming.
Um why do you consider profits and quality programming to be mutually exclusive? A few years back, ABC was riding high with Lost and Desperate Housewives and a few other shows. Then they succumbed to poor writing and subsequent ratings slides before their inevitable cancellations. ABC needs to go back to basics and put out quality programming. The only ABC show I watch outside of DWTS is Body of Proof which looks like it’ll be cancelled after this season based on its 13 episode pick-up this year. Once Body of Proof is gone, so will I be because DWTS is more infuriating than entertaining lately.
‘Dancing with the Stars’ aired against ‘The Voice’ this fall and that was not smart of ABC to do that. The same thing happened in spring 2012 when the two shows aired against each other on the same night. The show’s ratings decline also begin in the fall of 2011 when they had a cast of people who were mostly known for making headlines for ridiculous reasons or dating A to B list actors. ABC even admitted that the cast was weak that season.
moonves wasn’t blaming the ratings on DVR. he just says that advertisers should factor in live-plus-7 day instead of just live-plus-three day because DVR penetration continues to rise.
and whether he blames ratings on DVR or not, he makes a good point. besides, with the top scripted drama and the top scripted comedy, there’s not much for him to complain about anyway.
The idea that ratings are down because of a non-existent boycott is ridiculous. ABC realizes Dancing With The Stars isn’t drawing the once big ratings of it’s past. The real problem here is that they think its because they did an “All Star” edition when in actuality it’s because the format is tired and is winding down from a once ratings powerhouse to a decently rated middling numbers show. It happens to all show but if they think it’s only because they did “all stars” this season they’re in for a rude awakening next season when the numbers slide even further.
“they’re in for a rude awakening next season when the numbers slide even further.”
You may a good point there.
I can’t say whether this is why ratings are down or not…but the boycott is completely real. I don’t know why you call it non-existent.
Since ABC cancelling All My Children I boycott everything ABC. Voted a few seasons ago like many soapfans for J.R. Martinez.
I agree that the only thing tptb are interested in is how much money they can make. There have been lots of cancellations due to very disappointing program selections. Once the “reality” idea hit the airwaves, the execs were stuck there and refused to give their viewers good, scripted dramas. I hope they get the message that their audience is tired of this cheap programming.
I really did not mind an “All-Satrs” season because it was good to see people I really enjoyed watching on the program again and because it helped Shawn Johnson gain her confidence back after she was not able to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Ratings are down at ABC because nobody watches the network anymore.
The bigwigs at ABC just don’t get it. Since the soaps were cancelled people aren’t interested.
Refreshing to see a guy at a network with bad ratings NOT blaming Nielsen.
Disney wants advertisers to pay for viewers who watch up to 7 days after it has aired! Well give us AMC and OLTL back and you will have that and not only that, but the ratings that you ONCE had!!! Oh and for the DVR situation, their are people who do WORK YOU KNOW AND WATCHES SOAPS WHEN THEY GET HOME!!! WHY CAN’T THEY GET THIS THROUGH THEIR THICK SKULLS???? Ratings can’t be all that important to them because we have been screaming and chanting give us our soaps back, and they have yet to do that!!! And one more thing, you can’t solely blame DWTS for your failing ratings because your ratings problems have been happening loooong before this season of DWTS!!!! I don’t know where you got the idea where people wants to see people who can’t dance rather than see the ones who can! It is the ones who CAN’T dance get voted off first some of the time, but when I was watching it, I was watching it to see who could dance!
No abc… If no OLTL
ABC’s programming is falling behind because soap opera viewers have not forgotten the canceling of two long-time favorite shows, All My Children and One Life to Live. General Hospital is getting great ratings because that’s the show soap viewers support.
I don’t watch dancing with the stars or any ABC programs after the View and GH goes off due to their disrespect of daytime fans if we don’t have time to watch soaps for a hour why would I have a hour for reality TV. PS I heard you have to watch anything recorded on DVR within 48 hrs or it doesn’t count! Leave our soaps alone, screw the chew!
Kelly Monaco and her “romance” with pro partner Val with the two of them reminding the audience approximately every five seconds that they’re banging each other turned a lot of people off. The show has turned into a smut fest. Also, for the past few seasons, the interesting stars get booted off first while the remaining ones that make it to the finals are typically dull as dishwater. DWTS needs to get stars who are more appealing and who are actually known by the audience. I swear, as every season goes by, the percentage of stars competing that I’ve ever heard of goes down further. I understand that people like Sylester Stallone who have been asked to do the show have turned them down because he’s got a successful movie career but others like Melanie Griffith have begged to do the show and keep getting turned down. Why? Even as a has-been, she’s more of a star than most of the stars competing each season combined. They’d do well to keep politics out as if as well.
DWTS’ format no longer works. Too many good/exciting dancers are being voted off the show while “fan favorites” stay on. The “shocker eliminations” are totally disheartening. They need to switch the format to “vote against” because that would go a long way to undercutting the fanbase/bloc voting problem.
The problem with DWTS All-Stars was they allowed the Champions to return which my mom and I thought kinda took away from it. It should have been only those who didn’t win. Thankfully a non-champion won.
I meant Bristol Palin, not Sarah!
It would be must more interesting if they paired real people with the professional dancers. Wasn’t that the original thrust of the show when it first started?
Also, they are bringing on too many contestants who actually have dance training or experience, which undercuts the whole premise of the show. Kristi Yamaguchi – really? Everyone with half a brain knows that an Olympic gold-medal-winning figure skater has had YEARS of dance training.
The idea that there’s enough soap opera fans to make a difference in the ratings who are actually boycotting is silly. if there were enough of you, the shows wouldn’t have been cancelled in the first place.
Joe there is a LOT more to the cancellation of the two ABC soap operas than just ratings.
They need to fire all the pro-dancers and the gay judges on Dancing with the Stars. I’m tired of seeing them. They seem to be playing favorites and wiping their faces on their loin cloths. Sickening.