• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, October 16, 2023

It took ABC 13 days to issue a viewership press release on the premiere episode of “The Golden Bachelor.”

ABC had good news to tell, but the 11-day ratings gap is a sign of the times. Multiple days are necessary today to collect data from so many sources in addition to plain ol’ ABC.

It used to take less than 24 hours for audience data for all of prime time the night before to pop up in a journalist’s inbox the next morning, since all the data was concentrated in one platform (a word not in use back then): Network TV -- ABC and the others.

ABC issued a press release October 11 for the premiere of “The Golden Bachelor” on September 28.

“Across linear and streaming platforms in its first week, the premiere episode of ABC’s ‘The Golden Bachelor’ delivered a combined cumulative audience of 11.1 million Total Viewers for its debut telecast on September 28 and its rebroadcast on October 3,” said the press release’s first sentence.  

The next sentence gave the numbers minus the rebroadcast -- 9 million total viewers and a 2.46 rating in Adults 18-49 in “MP+7,” ABC said.

“After just seven days of viewing across linear and streaming platforms, the September 28 debut telecast alone skyrocketed to 9 million Total Viewers, gaining an addition +4.64 million viewers in delayed cross-platform viewing,” the release said.

“In addition, ‘The Golden Bachelor’ catapulted to a 2.46 rating among Adults 18-49 -- quadruple its initial Live+Same rating (+297%),” ABC said.  

Truth be told, I’m puzzled by how ABC arrived at 11.1 million. What about the 9 million plus 4.64 million referenced above?

Later in the press release, ABC reported the viewership on Hulu. “The debut of ‘The Golden Bachelor’ marked ABC’s No. 1 episode for any unscripted series ever on Hulu, based on views after its first seven days of streaming (2.53 million views),” ABC said.

To clarify: The premiere of “The Golden Bachelor” on Hulu drew the highest number of views for an ABC unscripted series on Hulu, but it was not the highest-rated unscripted debut on Hulu.

If memory serves, “The Kardashians,” a show made exclusively for Hulu, has been the streamer’s most-viewed unscripted show since it started in April 2022.

Of all the figures cited above, the one that intrigues the most is the 2.46 rating in 18-49 viewers -- TV’s “young” demo. Thats not bad for a “Bachelor” spinoff whose participants range in age from 60 to 75.

The golden bachelor at the center of it all -- Indiana resident Gerry Turner (pronounced GAIR-ee) -- is 72.

Three episodes of the show have aired so far Thursdays at 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC. 

In the most recent installment last Thursday, at least one of GAIR-ee’s women suitors -- Kathy, 70, from Austin, Texas -- emerged as the show’s villainess as she brought one of the other women to tears -- Theresa, 69, from Shrewsbury, New Jersey.

Theresa was one of several of the women who professed that they had already made a meaningful “connection” with Gerry on the road to true love.

But in a dramatic twist, one of them -- Joan, 60, of Rockville, Maryland -- was suddenly called home for a family emergency and she and Gerry tearfully parted.

For ABC, it was the stuff that TV dreams are made of.