There's no sugar-coating it folks. Season 6, according to the only ratings that are consistent in the cable television market, is becoming the least-watched season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Not even the premier, which is historically one of the most-anticipated events every season, was able to crack 390,000 viewers - a number that represents the LEAST-watched episode of Season 4.
Just recently, the ratings for Episode 5 "Gauntlet of Fire" came in, at a new record-low - a mere 196,000 viewers.
To put that in perspective, it lost to reruns of Evan Almighty and Happy Feet on HBO Prime in the ratings.
Now, a bunch of you are going to be like "People only watch the streams now!" or "Maybe everyone just needs to watch it on Television instead!"
Those people need a dose of reality.
"People watch streams of it online!" you say?
People do that for EVERY SHOW ON TELEVISION. Do you think that there are really that many people who pay to watch Game of Thrones on HBO every week? Shit no, most of them watch it streamed online. HBO only has 131 Million Subscribers WORLDWIDE. Everybody uses things like Netflix and Hulu and pirated streams ect. More importantly they always have, so this has remained largely constant.
"Maybe everyone just needs to watch it on Television instead!"
Wrong again.
For those of you unfamiliar, ratings come from a system from the Nielsen company, whose job it is to monitor the viewing habits of select households all over the country, that make up a representation of the population as a whole. The vast majority of people are not in these households, and the object is that Nielsen selects YOU, you don't get to volunteer to be part of the ratings. This eliminates bias in the reporting - so we DON'T have 10,000 bronies making the data appear like 100 million people are watching pony every week.
So, when the ratings say that Pony has dropped from a peak of 790,000 viewers of an episode premier, to a paltry 196,000? It is an indicator that compared to the control, viewership IS dropping off.
People will still watch on Netflix. People will still watch on Dailymotion ect, but these qualities are not unique to MLP, nor should they be treated as such. The same could be said about any show, from Archer to Steven Universe.
Here's the numbers for this season
"The Crystalling" (Part 1) - 380,000
"The Crystalling" (Part 2) - 370,000
"The Gift of the Maud Pie" - 210,000 (previous least-watched record holder, after it beat "Princess Spike" with 260,000)
"On Your Marks" - 300,000
"Gauntlet of Fire" - 196,000 - New least-watched record holder
The reasons for this could be explained away by those who feel the need to spin it up, but lets look at this objectively.
It's been 6 years since pony began. Their target audience is older and so is their unintended audience, so priorities change. It's not "new" anymore. The shift from the Hub to Discovery Family with their terrible marketing sense is another huge factor. There's a huge number of reasons for this, but it IS happening.
Will this affect the timeline of MLP from here on out?
Maybe, but unlikely. All hasbro cares about is the toy sales, and those seem to be on the uptick this quarter so they'll be happy with their influx of cash.
Will this affect the timeline of MLP from here on out?
Maybe, but unlikely. All hasbro cares about is the toy sales, and those seem to be on the uptick this quarter so they'll be happy with their influx of cash.
All I'm asking is for everyone to take off the rose-colored glasses. The glory days ARE behind us. All things slow down, and ultimately stop. Pretending that it isn't will only make the reality of when it does, all the harder.
Season 6 is the least-watched season of My Little Pony on record
But it IS still watchable.
But it IS still watchable.
Tbh fam, we've been the target audience ever since halfway through season 2
ReplyDeleteI really do think it's a mistake to keep Pony on Discovery Family. It could generate so much higher viewership on other channels, channels that aren't premium or extra for viewers in many areas.
ReplyDeleteSome stuff that may be relevant:
ReplyDelete"Discovery Family Channel, our cable television joint venture with Discovery Communications, Inc. in the
United States, competes with a number of other children’s television networks for viewers, advertising revenue
and distribution fees. There is no guarantee that Discovery Family Channel will be successful...At December 27, 2015, $242.9 million, or 5.1%, of our total assets, represented our investment in Discovery
Family Channel. If Discovery Family Channel does not achieve success, or if there are subsequent declines in the
success or profitability of the channel, then our investment may become impaired, which could result in a write-
down through net earnings."
Came from this report: http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/HAS/1820399081x0x883653/E95A5C8D-DFAA-4ACB-BB2C-844E50306A01/Annual_Report_for_Web.pdf
Will be interesting to see how this goes.
Now watch the next episode have ~300,000 watching and no-one says a thing.
ReplyDeleteTV is dying, these Neilson figures mean bugger all even on the biggest channels these days.
Are less watching pony? Quite likely but Hasbro themselves have said that a lot of viewership is online, for all their properties, not just pony.
Hasbro needs the show to be good enough to sell toys. They are not trying to crush the Saturday Morning ratings. Furthermore, there are several divisions of Hasbro. The toy company and the studio are separate from each other. They use the same IP, but pretty much everything else is different. You might as well pretend they are two totally different companies that have the ability to legally sue one another (I'm not kidding) for the use of different forms of IP. What I don't like about conversations like these, is it paints the picture "the fandom is dying" when really, what its saying is "the show can't grow much more than it already has". We can say several things that make more sense than "The show/fandom is dying."
ReplyDeleteFor instance:
try...
"Nothing lasts forever."
"All good things come to an end."
"It was fun while it was here."
And what's even funnier, is that it's not even close to the end. I'm totally expecting Hasbro to run this generation into the ground, no sooner than 2020 will it end. Hasbro is not FOX. They aren't going to jump ship at the first sign of bad TV ratings that don't really reflect their toy division's bottom line.
And let's remember, Hasbro didn't intend for 'us' to happen in the first place. They wanted a good show. They got a great kickass show that controlled parts of the internet for a time.
DeleteBut they DID crush the ratings in the past and you're insane if you don't think Hasbro wants the small craze/fad that popped up around one of their properties in 2011 and 2012.
DeleteWhen the show was hot, we criticized Hasbro for not paying enough attention to the 'accidental fanbase'. We marked them as oblivious white collars that refused to recognize the fandom explosion that occurred on the internet. And now that we're 6 seasons in, the story is now that Hasbro is going to cancel the show because of lower Nielsen ratings and a fandom decline.
DeleteI see what this is about. It's about the same thing every internet fanboy or girl needs when stuff like this occurs. They need 'validation'. Bronies love being validated, and in today's Season 6 environment, bronies want to be recognized for not being noticed as much. Sillyness. Like the article says, the show is very much watchable, and I'll be one that watches to the end. But right now, its those people who seem to think that because they have lost interest, so should everyone else. Maybe, just maybe, there are plenty of bronies and kids watching ponies on a regular basis and they could care less about what some are saying about how no one watches it in anymore. Are you OK with that, Mr. Brony? Are you OK that your opinion doesn't matter? Are you OK that someone is not validating you?
At some point I was selected, I think back in '11, to be a part of the study but declined it under the pretense that my family spends about 0 hours watching television and about 35 hours a week watching DVDs (namely, 35 of those hours are probably Logan's Run). It's hard to say but one of the places I visited has Discovery Family but never had the HUB but there's a lot about that which has changed, including physical location.
ReplyDeleteTV in general is dying, but the thing about Nielsen is that it's a representative sample. So like if the number of cable subscribers dropped by 20% then in theory the number of viewers should shift alongside that drop. Here we're looking at a loss of 75% and I'm mostly sure that 75% of people didn't cut their cable in the last year and a half.
I haven't watched Season 6 at all, and I'm sure a lot of other folks simply got either tired of pony or the fact it caters too much to the wrong audience.
Clearly what this situation needs is more clop.
ReplyDeleteIt's all cool and all, but WTF happened to Horse News?
ReplyDeleteThey used to post an article a week and now they do 3 a day.
Chelis gave up weight watchers so now he has a lot more free time to write
DeleteLol who watches the show anyways?
ReplyDeleteNobody, because it's time for the bronies to move on.
DeleteTHE END IS NEIGH!
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its a GOD DAMN spilke episode what did you expect his episodes are shit
ReplyDeleteThe show should've ended after the 3rd season. It was shit ever since anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt's over. Cartoon Horse Show is finished.
ReplyDeletedamn right it's over
Deleteseason 3 and 4 was shit it sucks that people have lost interest because season 5 and 6 so far look good
ReplyDeleteLet's wish that those fans go back to watch Season 5 and 6 or their whole merchandise selling thing might collapse
DeleteWell there's the rub... my SJW friend who was massively into pony watched the first episode of season 5 with all the anti-equality messages and = cutie marks (this came out just after 80% of facebook used = avatars in celebration of LGBT stuff) and dropped the show like a lead brick at that point. He's never watched it since and immediately de-ponied his entire internet presence and started getting rid of his merch.
DeleteSeason 4 was actually considered one of the best by fans (I respect your opinion though). Season 5 to me was OK.
DeleteMaybe when you get another show that's doing as well as when MLP first blew up, Hasbro, you should prioritize leaving creative control to the writers and MAKING MORE TOYS AROUND THAT. The majority of us jumped ship the instant Faust left, even more left the instant Twilicorn was revealed, lets not forget the Derpy drama that you never revealed it was because of an iTunes release issue until years later, caving in to SJWs on taking down APM even though it was a transformative work which is thereby legal, your many cease and desist orders on works that should fall under fair use (double rainboom and the like were called for for using stolen assets that may/may not be used with/without permission).
ReplyDeleteThese numbers are because Hasjew got wayyyy too greedy and trigger-happy. It's a damn shame too.... the mlp fandom is the single most fun fandom I've ever been a part of and I bought so much merch.
Oh come on. They're no angels, but as massive corporations go, I wouldn't say they're so bad as to warrant boycotting - for every 1 thing they do go after, they let 1000s of shit slide. The toy side of the operation lets the show side basically take the piss out of them (even if they do mandate some long term things like Twilicorn and the castle, things like Rainbow Power are 10 second transformations like once a season and they've already had fun poking at Princess Demonspawn)
DeleteSure, if you expected a 100% pure show with absolutely no signs of capitalism, welcome to the real world. They had an entire season opener dedicated to right wing capitalist ideology. But when you get coffee/confectionery companies literally causing the deaths of babies in the third world, the kind of issue that boycotting was originally about, doing the same thing because a toy company's lawyers were being protective about stolen assets, censoring a controversial character during a shitstorm and putting wings on a cartoon horse just seems a tad overblown.
The reason a lot of people left the fandom is they got sick of it turning into the Sonic fandom with the ridiculous levels of entitlement, and the endless whining about changing his arm color.
I might be wrong but Double Rainboom was officially sanctioned by Hasbro. It's just the guy running the project had a bitchfit and deleted it. Again, I may be wrong.
DeleteMost if not all the C&Ds I've seen were well deserved and a general sign that most of those projects didn't have the foresight to plan around it. The problem is that we wanted too much into the show and that puts a lot of people away from it.
I really should've put added this, anon: I didn't hint at me boycotting Hasbro's stuff... the majority of my gripes come from taking down transformative works for "copyright and trademarking" shit thinking it wont backfire in any way. The controversy around Derpy wasn't even really a controversy behind the scenes.... iTunes, a massive outlet for episodes, didn't like the name or voice and asked for an edit or they won't put in in the iTunes store. This was not revealed until a few years later (likely because they can't legally) and Hasbro just kinda left the fanbase to boil over in anger. They got so much unnecessary hate for something that wasn't even their fault in the first place. The APM shit was utter bullshit... if you don't like quazzy-NSFW blogs then don't fucking click on them, SJWs. Also, I never said don't sell mlp merch.... I said a coherent show that's worth a damn to watch in the first place should always be a priority and they should've made toys around what characters/plot the writers come up with. Very few people would like toys from a shitty show.... little girls, like my baby sister, included.... she hates littlest pet shop and despised the toys I bought for her because silly me thought a 6 year old would the like little plastic toys I bought for Christmas.
DeleteI made the first post because the majority why the fandom is dead so so may people is because of a trigger-happy (its a bad pun) Hasbro. It just depresses me that the single most fun fandom with incredibly creative people in it are being snuffed out with no real reason.
And to be fair to Hasbro: as a kid I thought the transformers show on cartoon network (I think) was boring because of too much talking and not enough fighting... the one part where some asshole robot slices a tree or something in half annoyed the hell out of me because they then spent an entire episode just talking... I still thought the toys were cool as shit and owned 2 of them... but the lack of a good show made me sell them at a 4th grade project where we had to sell some shit for some fucking lesson on saving money or something.
@Prismatic Zero
DeleteDouble Rainboom was deleted because of this: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4qnld62yNNY/Uu80C3vUWiI/AAAAAAAAARE/TdnYGE3yVzc/s1600/wiofjvn.png
I haven't watched the show in a year - I guess I'm part of the problem...
ReplyDeletethe first 5 episodes are really good
DeleteYou retards are unreal. Hasbro has said ratings don't matter. DHX has said ratings don't matter. Discovery Family is only available to fewer than 50% of households in the United States of America. It's completely unavailable in any other country.
ReplyDeleteDo you idiots actually think that Hasbro thinks that the ratings from Discovery Family include EVERYONE? Because they don't. Discovery Family is not the primary means of broadcasting to fans of the show and they KNOW IT. If you EG-hating horsefuckers didn't completely ignore what you don't like, you'd know that the next movie is hitting Netflix before it's hitting Discovery Family.
Most people watch the show through some means that doesn't include Discovery Family. If anything, Discovery Family will die before MLP does because it's not reaching the wider audience.
Calm yo mantits, horsefuckers. The show ain't going anywhere.
SHUT UP! The show musts end now! The kids doesn't want to watch new episodes in the summer because Hasbro are idiots since 2013, that why the girl sales are down and losing money on stock market.
DeleteThe feeling I got from the recent-ish Big Jim interview is that they know Discovery Family is fucked and there's a bit of a question mark over the show having a future past season 6 while they figure out what to do. It may be hanging in the balance. That's not to say they WANT to end it though - just that broadcast networks themselves (not Hasbro) are more and more fussy about ratings and it's going to be harder to find somewhere that'll actually take it on.
DeleteI shall simply say that I still watch it quite a lot myself. I have kept up with all episodes and will certainly keep with it until it's finale.
ReplyDeleteYou all must keep in mind that there is a movie planned for next year (not an EqG one but an actual MLP one) that should boost views and interest the closer it comes to being released. I imagine it will indeed be released after season 6 finishes, there's still the possibility of a season 7 that would be used as a lead up to the movie. Which would most likely greatly boost viewers.
Sure, some fans may have lost interest... but some may have just lost access to when it airs. Some fans may have grown up and have jobs/schooling that prevents them from watching it during it's air times. There are numerous factors to consider aside from the simple 'do we still have fans or are we losing them' dilemma.
Regardless... given that the majority of posts on here seem to be attempted trolls and 4channers... I'm sure no one cares about logic and just wants to rant and random, meaningless things.
But, whatever... there's my input all the same. Probably won't check back but I said what I wanted to anyway.
Sometimes I've wondered if a full-length movie would be more or less the end of G4 My Little Pony as we know it. Sure we'll get a bit of hype but I'm sure many families who are aware of the bronies may not bother to see the movie.
DeleteThe problem with logic is that we define it different and many of us who have been around since season 1 felt the energy of the fandom die at the end of season 2. It's just the residual energy that remained despite all the takedowns, failed projects, EQG and long since passed conventions has finally begun to dry up after those years. I think parents who screen the show and are aware of us may or may not be a factor in this...
These days kids also call themselves Bronies (it's just a label after all, and it's not like anyone is unwelcome) so I don't know if that's much of a concern. I've been in an EQG showing and kids maybe 10 years old have come in saying "oh there are other Bronies here". I think people have finally started to get over the "oh they must be pedophiles" knee jerk reaction and aren't really fussed, long as the older ones aren't being drunk/loud/etc.
DeleteI've likened the term bronies to be more of a phase rather than crazy adults. Many of these 'bronies' are in it solely because everyone else was in it (Note: Season 2) and once something else came up they moved to it.
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ReplyDeleteActually deleting my old comment from over 7 months ago, season 6 and 7 have sucked and considering how much the film's gonna suck, I just want this show to die off...
ReplyDeleteHuh... midway through season 5 was when I turned out... but the MLP movie brought me back into it. I think the new seasons are... fine. They're fine. They have a few jems in there. But I don't care about Toothpaste, stop trying to make Toothpaste a main character. I call her toothpaste because the name starlight glimmer is fucking dumb. Fuck off, Toothpaste
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