After delivering a curiosity-fueled series high number last week, “American Horror Story: Freak Show” was due to take a ratings hit in week two.<\/p>\n
And take a ratings hit it did.<\/p>\n
Episode two of the latest “AHS” cycle drew a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating with 4.52 million viewers. Both the demo and viewership numbers trailed those of last week’s episode by 26%.<\/p>\n
While a week two drop is nothing new for “AHS”–all three previous cycles endured sizable post-premiere losses–this week’s drop was the biggest on record.<\/p>\n
The second episode of 2013’s “American Horror Story: Coven,” for instance, trailed its premiere by 17% in the adults 18-49 demographic and by 18% in the viewership column.<\/p>\n
That episode, in fact, drew a stronger adults 18-49 rating (and comparable viewership) than this week’s “Freak Show” episode despite following a lesser-watched premiere.<\/p>\n
While a 26% drop is impossible to ignore, it is worth noting that Wednesday’s “Freak Show” was cable’s #1 program by a convincing margin. It was also the top-rated broadcast of any kind in the 10PM hour.<\/p>\n
And insofar as “American Horror Story” performs well on DVR, FX will neither sweat this performance nor regret its decision to book a fifth “AHS” season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1048,437],"tags":[608,176,1922,519],"adace-sponsor":[],"yoast_head":"\n