One should never forget to chase optimism with a dose of caution in the television ratings game, but A&E executives have every reason to smile Tuesday.
Prompting that smile is news that week two of heavily-hyped drama launch “Bates Motel” matched its premiere rating. That number–a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating–helped “Bates” reign as cable’s top-scripted original Monday.
It was fourth among all cable broadcasts, losing to WWE RAW, “Teen Mom II” and an Adult Swim re-run of “Family Guy.”
An average of 2.84 million viewers tuned into the first-run broadcast.
When celebrating premiere viewership numbers, particularly for new drama series, television networks always have to account for the possibility that a portion of the audience was driven by curiosity and has no intent to stick with the show. The risk of a “curiosity spike” was especially prevalent for “Bates,” which surely drew some interest from fans of the famous “Psycho” movie franchise.
But week two indicates that the series premiere did its job in keeping viewers engaged, and as long as the next few episodes possess similar magnetism, A&E could definitely have a respectable performer on its hands.