• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, November 15, 2024

Any headline about a new “healthy” debut of a prime-time network TV show should continue to get further inspection -- as in, define health.

It turns out that this past Tuesday, NBC show “St. Denis Medical” was tagged with that result by one industry trade -- some 3.8 million Nielsen-measured viewers.

With the top prime-time shows now getting just under 10 million viewers -- especially those “NCIS” and other drama/crime procedural shows on CBS -- this would seem to sound like a fair assessment.

The top overall prime-time show on Tuesday was CBS’ “FBI” at 6.3 million.

Of course, any true measure of health for a prime-time series continues to be fluid where time-shifted data through seven days continues to factor into the equation via a home DVR or other technology -- and of course, where streaming platforms typically give viewers next day access to those prime-time shows.

The promise for TV networks these days for prime-time shows is building a continued high level of awareness, buzz, and word-of-mouth social-media attention -- including that of YouTube spin.

All those exposures offer up a complex fabric of exposure.

Perhaps a more significant question is what a single TV show really means now to a TV network or overall to a legacy media company.

We might guess, for example, that “Squid Game” is still a big deal for Netflix. But can we compare this big streaming show -- in terms of traditional Nielsen average viewership -- to a “St. Denis” or “NCIS”? Not really.

And then consider the return of Paramount Global’s big shows “Yellowstone” -- with a new season premiere that amassed 16.4 million on the Paramount Network, as well as airings on CBS, MTV, CMT, and Pop.

But wait -- there’s more to ruminate over. This 16.4 million number comes from Paramount’s measurement sourcing via its deal with VideoAmp -- due to Paramount's ongoing battle with Nielsen, where it dropped the service at the end of September.

“Yellowstone” results -- from Nielsen via other reports -- show a total of 13.6 million viewers.

All this is to say that new TV shows launching on one or a number of platforms have an ever more complicated tangle of measurements and other factors to consider going forward.

Perhaps harder is evaluating modestly performing new and existing TV shows -- especially if and where they fit into a media campaign from a national TV brand advertiser.

One needs a deeper programming diagnosis --and maybe aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen -- for any TV-associated headaches.