While more media agencies are doing some deals based on 25-54 broadcast primetime ratings, the 18-49 demo is still the holy grail for marketers. And since primetime is watched by more women than men, women 18-49 viewers wield a little bit more influence when it comes to determining the fate of shows.
An examination of Nielsen ratings data shows that there is a significant correlation to broadcast shows survival and their level of women 18-49 viewership.
Most recent case in point - ABC's cancellation of drama Revenge after four seasons. Last season, Revenge averaged a 2.2 demo rating among women 18-49. This season it fell to 1.5.
A look at the cancellations of new broadcast network shows earlier in this current season also illustrates how most of those series never caught on with female 18-49 viewers. Those shows and their female 18-49 rating when they were taken off the air: Mulaney, Fox (0.7); Utopia, Fox (0.8); A to Z, NBC (1.0); Bad Judge, NBC (1.0); Constantine, NBC (1.0); Red Band Society, Fox (1.2); Manhattan Love Story, ABC (1.3); and Selfie, ABC (1.4).
To that list you can add new series that have struggled to get viewers this season and are longshots at being renewed like Weird Loners on Fox with a women 18-49 rating of 0.7; American Oddessey, NBC (0.8); The Slap, NBC (1.0); Allegience, NBC (1.0); Gracepoint, Fox (1.0); Backstrom, Fox (1.1); Forever, ABC (1.2); and Cristela, ABC (1.2).
Last season a bunch of new series that were cancelled also failed to draw significant women 18-49 viewers. Among them: Enlisted, Fox (0.7); Killer Women, ABC (0.9); Mind Games, ABC (0.9); Rake, Fox (1.0); Welcome to the Family, NBC (1.1); Lucky 7, ABC (1.1); Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, ABC (1.2); Dracula, NBC (1.2); Sean Saves the World, NBC (1.3); Surviving Jack, Fox (1.3); Trophy Wife, ABC (1.3); Ironside, NBC (1.4); Michael J. Fox Show, NBC (1.4); and Intelligence, CBS (1.4).
This season, much like Revenge, which took a precipitous drop in women 18-49 viewers, Fox's The Following is also following in a similar path. Last season the Fox drama averaged a 1.8 rating among women 18-49. This season the demo rating is down to a 1.2. Once Fox's most-watched drama, The Following doesn't appear to have much of a future on the network.
To be fair to Revenge, last season it aired on Sunday night at 9, leading out of ABC's Once Upon a Time, which has a solid women 18-49 demo rating of 2.7. So yes, lead-ins do matter.
The same can be said for CBS drama series NCIS: Los Angeles, which the network moved to a new night and time period this season. Last season NCIS: Los Angeles, leading out of NCIS, averaged a 2.4 in the women 18-49 demo. That was helped in large part by the NCIS women 18-49 demo rating of 2.7. This season, NCIS: Los Angeles is averaging a 1.8, even though its new lead-in Scorpion is averaging a 2.2 in the female demo.
Other broadcast primetime series that have taken big dips in their women 18-49 demo ratings this season are ABC dramas Resurrection and Castle, NBC's About a Boy and Fox drama Sleepy Hollow.
Resurrection hit the ground running after premiering last spring and ended its first season averaging a 3.2 demo rating among women 18-49. However this season, before finishing its run, the series averaged just a 1.6 rating. Castle, which still has Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor as its lead-ins during different portions of the season, has dipped among women 18-49 from a 2.4 to a 1.9. About a Boy was leading out of NBC's The Voice on Tuesday night last season and averaged a 2.5 among women 18-49. This season without The Voice lead-in, About a Boy fell to a 1.3 rating in the female demo. Sleepy Hollow was considered to be a freshman series hit for Fox last season and averaged a 2.2 in the women 18-49 demo, but this season it fell to a 1.4.
So what are the most-watched new series this season in broadcast primetime among women 18-49? They are also among the most-watched TV series among all primetime shows. Fox's Empire, which just completed its limited first season run, averaged a non-sports-programming, broadcast-leading 6.3 rating among women 18-49. How to Get Away with Murder on ABC, which also just completed its first season, averaged a 3.4 rating in the demo and that was seventh best among all broadcast entertainment shows. ABC sitcom Black-ish is averaging a 2.7 rating in the female demo, CBS sitcom The Odd Couple is averaging a 2.6, CBS drama Scorpion a 2.2 and ABC drama Secrets and Lies, a 2.0.
What those numbers show is that if women 18-49 are watching in large numbers, a new show has a solid chance to not only succeed, but to be among the most viewed shows on television. If not, that shows chances are greatly diminished.
Among all primetime shows, dramas and comedies, this season, in second place behind Empire among women 18-49 is ABC's Scandal, which is averaging a 4.5 in the demo. Next is CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (4.2); the Monday edition of The Voice (4.1) and Tuesday edition of The Voice (3.9); ABC's The Bachelor (3.5); ABC drama Grey's Anatomy (3.5); ABC sitcom Modern Family (3.4); ABC's Dancing with the Stars (2.9); and ABC drama Once Upon a Time (2.9), which actually increased its rating in the female demo this season.
Other dramas that draw well among the women 18-49 demo include Criminal Minds on CBS (2.7); NBC's The Blacklist (2.6); and CBS's NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans (both with a 2.4). NBC drama Chicago Fire is averaging a 2.1 in the demo.
Also pulling in a sizable women 18-49 audience is CBS reality series Survivor, which is averaging a 2.6 demo rating.
On the comedy side, other Top 10 shows among women 18-49 include ABC sitcom The Goldbergs (2.5); CBS comedy Two and a Half Men (2.4), which recently aired its series finale; ABC comedy The Middle (2.4); and CBS comedies Mike & Molly and
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
While more media agencies are doing some deals based on 25-54 broadcast primetime ratings, the 18-49 demo is still the holy grail for marketers. And since primetime is watched by more women than men, women 18-49 viewers wield a little bit more influence when it comes to determining the fate of shows.
