Given just how much quality TV is currently set up on Monday nights, it’s a tough time to try and go for broke in the ratings. Supergirl is currently experiencing that woe firsthand, as it has gone through the second major ratings tumble in two weeks. If this trend keeps up, they might have to change the name of the show to Marginally-Watched Girl. Do they change the names of shows based on ratings? Probably not.
Episode 3, “Fight or Flight,” brought in a respectable 8.1 million viewers, and if we were just looking at this in terms of decent numbers, it wouldn’t be so dire. But we’re talking about a show whose series premiere nabbed almost 13 million people on the night, and then racked up around 19 million viewers when Live+7 was added in. It was bad enough that the numbers crashed down in Week 2 to 8.8 million, and then this week fell down to 8.1 million.
Those drooping numbers are discouraging, absolutely, but not as much as the drastic drop in ratings for the key demographic. The series premiere had a 3.1 rating for viewers 18-49, which was only behind The Big Bang Theory on the night. Now, though, Supergirl is just bringing in a 1.7 demo rating, according to TV By the Numbers, and that’s a little more than half of what it started with. As a comparison, even Scorpion earned a 1.8 demo rating (with 9.3 million total viewers). Sure, that one is a second year-show with a solid fanbase, but it’s also not a comic book series that was supposed to draw younger audiences to CBS. Supergirl is the latter, and it’s apparently losing out in that battle.
There are a couple of reasons why Supergirl has seen a drop in ratings, and neither of them have anything to do with the quality of the show. (You guys seriously should be watching.) For one, the premiere’s numbers got a huge boost from Big Bang Theory airing just before it, and the superhero drama was able to reap some of that 16.3 million-strong audience. Without that hit show drawing people in, however, Supergirl is probably never going to hit those highs again anytime soon.
Which brings us to the second point: Monday Night Football is always going to divert viewers from everything else on the air at the same time, which is why a lot of Monday night shows get decent DVR numbers. Perhaps when the NFL shifts to the playoffs in December and January and away from Monday nights, Supergirl could see an increase in viewers. In the end, though, the show is still whipping Gotham’s ass in the ratings. So there’s that.
Supergirl airs Monday nights on CBS.
