The numbers are rolling in for theSurvivor 48premiere, and they aren't looking so good. According to a report fromProgramming Insider, theSurvivor 48premiere, which aired on Wednesday, Feb. 26, was watched by 4.27 million viewers. That is the lowest-rated premiere ever for a season ofSurvivor.But, guess what? It really doesn't even matter.
Sure, CBS would love higher ratings forSurvivor.Looking at the older seasons of the show, even some of the New Era seasons,Survivorused to be much more popular. I would argue that more people know about this show than they ever have, even if they aren't watching, and that's a testament to the series evolving, changing, and growing with its audience. The show continues to bring in new fans, so what's the big deal with the ratings?
Well, to me, there isn't anything to worry about for CBS with these ratings, despite the decline. There are a few reasons that this is happening, so don't let a few grabby headlines trick you into thinkingSurvivorisn't thriving as a series.
First of all,Survivorwas and continues to be the biggest reality competition series in the United States, and it's not really even close.Deal or No Deal Island,another popular reality competition series, basically has half as many people tuning in on a weekly basis.
On top of that, TV ratings just aren't what they used to be. Long gone are the days of 12 million people tuning in to watchSurvivor: Philippines(season 25). That's just the reality of the TV industry. Across the board, same-day viewership on traditional TV platforms has dropped. Survivor is not an outlier, but it is surviving in a tricky TV landscape.
The other point is that the low-ish ratings do not even include Paramount+ viewership. More people watch TV on streaming services than ever before. Sure, advertisers have less reach on CBS than they used to, but there's still some amount of reach that can happen on Paramount+, as well.
In theCBS Newsspecial report aboutSurvivor,the report claimed the series has averaged about 6 million viewers for each new episode. I think that's probably a fair estimate based on the Survivor 48 premiere numbers.
Survivor is the most popular non-One Chicago show on Wednesdays
So, as you can see, the declining numbers, while low, do not paint an accurate picture of what is happening with the series. Compared to other current shows, Survivorreportedlyis still one of the biggest shows on TV in the 18-48 and 25-54 demographics. It is the most popular show in those demographics among the Wednesday night shows. That's a big deal! That proves just how popular this series still is with fans of all ages.
And, looking at the other networks,Survivoris basically just as popular asChicago Med, Chicago Fire,andChicago PD.Those three shows, which averaged about 5 million viewers combined last week, were the only shows with a bigger audience than theSurvivor 48premiere.Survivorranked fourth last Wednesday behind those three shows, according to the Programming Insider report.
On the one hand, I think it's interesting that throughout the New Era ofSurvivor(sinceSurvivor: Winners at Warin 2020), ratings have dropped season-over-season, but it's not an issue overall. CBS has already picked upSurvivorfor at least two more seasons, throughSurvivor 50,and it sounds like there's moreSurvivorin the works after that ifrecent reportsare accurate.
I'm not worried about the future ofSurvivor,and neither should you!
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