Update: While helpful indicators, the overnight metered market numbers are not always perfect in their reflection of a show’s performance in the adults 18-49 and total viewership columns.
This was one of those examples of imperfection.
Leading out of an episode of “Arrow” that drew an improved 0.9 with 2.62 million viewers, “The 100” slipped to a 0.7 rating with 2.27 million viewers.
While both the rating and viewership average are strong by the standards of The CW, they do reflect a sizable drop from last week’s 0.9 and 2.73 million.
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Garnering a strong audience for a series premiere is nowhere near as difficult as retaining that audience for the second episode, let alone for the subsequent month.
It is unclear if The CW’s “The 100” will hold up for the remainder of its first season, but it appears to have moved past the first hump with aplomb. Wednesday’s episode, the show’s second, nearly matched the premiere’s overnight rating.
Episode two of “The 100” posted a strong 1.8 overnight household rating. Down only one tenth from its premiere number, the 1.8 should represent The CW’s second strongest overnight performance this week.
The first? The 2.1 rating for “Arrow,” which performed admirably as a lead-in for Wednesday’s “The 100.”
While the new series’ decline in adults 18-49 and total viewership might be larger than it was in the overnight households, it will not likely be enough to call the promise of the new show into question.