Community - Advanced ratings and introduction to statistics

Last Thursday, for its return after a 3-month absence, Community gathered 4.75 million viewers, including 2.2% of the american population between 18 and 49 years old (the target demographic that appeals to the advertisers) !

Magnitude's "Pop pop !", Abed's "Cool. Cool, cool, cool.", Annie's "YAY !", or Shirley's "That's nice !", you may express your joy however you want in this thread, or talk about whatever you want as long as it's about Community, its awesomeness and its continually growing chances of having a fourth season.

=> But before you do, here are 10 impressive statistics / facts about the ratings of episode 3.11 :

I — This season, except all 18 episodes of The Office, all six episodes of Smash (following The Voice), three episodes of Shitney (1.01, 1.02 and 1.03, all after The Office), three episodes of Up All Night (1.01 (after the America's Got Talent finale), 1.02 (time-period première) and 1.04) and the season premiere of Law & Order : Special Victim Unit, not a single scripted NBC show has done better than last Thursday's Community episode.

II — 2.2 on the 18-49 demo is better than anything programmed from 8/7c to 9/8c on NBC this season (except episode 1.02 (time-period première) and episode 1.04 of Up All Night).

III — It is the most watched episode of Community of the season (an hour later, The Office got its worst ratings ever with 4.87 million viewers / 2.3% of the 18-49 demo).

IV — It is the most watched episode of Community by the 18-49 demo since episode 2.13 (January 27, 2011) and the most watched episode of Community by the -0.9-115 demo since episode 2.06 (October 28, 2010).

V — #4 most watched programme on network TV by the 18-49 demo (behind Idol, Grey's Anatomy & The Office).

VI — #5 most watched programme of the night by the 18-49 demo, networks (aforementioned shows) and cable (Jersey Shore) combined.

VII - Most watched programme of the night on network TV by the 18-34 years old : 2.8% of that demo watched the show Thursday (versus 2.5% watching American Idol).

VIII — #2 most watched programme of the night by the 18-34 demo, networks and cable combined. Jersey Shore skews pretty young, too, believe it or not. But comparing Community to that piece of trash is like comparing a beautiful, juicy orange to a rotten apple filled with worms, smashed by pedestrians on the street and then peed on by dogs.

IX — Most watched programme of the night by men between 18 and 34 years old : 3.3% of the american men born between 1977 and 1993 were watching NBC from 8 to 8:30. American Idol only drew 1.9% of men in that demographic.

X - On Thursday, March 8 at 8pm, only 3.42 million viewers (a very poor 1.4% of the 18-49 demo) were watching 30 Rock (episode 6.11). Thus, the 2.2 pulled by Community is a 57% rise over week ! 30 Rock, now at 8:30pm, enjoyed a big bump (2.0%) thanks to Community.

=> Possible explanations for this impressive rise :

- The show might have built momentum since the announcement of its much-talked about hiatus.
- Many people may have had the chance to discover/catch up on the show this winter.
- The flashmobs.
- The evil goatees indicating we were in the darkest, most terrible timeline.
- The twitter hashtags (#savecommunity, #sixseasonsandamovie, etc).
- The incredibly devoted fan base that stuck behind the show more than ever.
- The good press (many critics named the show one of the best of 2011).
- The impressive trailer announcing the show's returns.
- Jim Rash's Oscar win for best screenplay and his now famous leg stance (which Angelina Jolie had to imitate).
- The creativity of the fans pouring through artworks and montages.
- My outrage in many comments and my dedication to post several Community-related threads such as this one, that one, this one, that one that one, this one, this one and even that one. Yep, that was very influential.

Or maybe it's because 250 more people that have a Nielson box in their house decided to watch the show because there was no Big Bang Theory episode (and they could not just happily watch again a TBBT repeat of an episode they had already seen a few weeks ago, it was a basketball game). There's no Big Bang Theory next week either, sweet !

Here are the reactions of the cast and crew to these amazing ratings :































In celebration of this promising return, I collected the ratings of all 60 episodes of Community so far (on both the global audience and the very important 18-49 demo) to witness their evolution as time went by. Here they are :



Season 1 (25 episodes) — Freshman Year (September 17, 2009 - May 20, 2010) :

1.01 — Pilot (September 17, 2009) : 7.89 million viewers (including 3.8% of the 18-49 population).
1.02 — Spanish 101 (September 24, 2009) : 5.39 million viewers (including 2.7% of the 18-49 population).
1.03 — Introduction to Film (October 1, 2009) : 5.86 million viewers (including 2.9% of the 18-49 population).
1.04 — Social Psychology (October 8, 2009) : 4.87 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 population).
1.05 — Advanced Criminal Law (October 15, 2009) : 5.01 million viewers (including 2.0% of the 18-49 population).
1.06 — Football, Feminism and You (October 22, 2009) : 5.18 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 population).
1.07 — Introduction to Statistics (October 29, 2009) : 5.32 million viewers (including 2.1% of the 18-49 population).
1.08 — Home Economics (November 5, 2009) : 5.45 million viewers (including 2.3% of the 18-49 population).
1.09 — Debate 109 (November 12, 2009) : 5.09 million viewers (including 2.1% of the 18-49 population).
1.10 — Environmental Science (November 19, 2009) : 4.87 million viewers (including 2.0% of the 18-49 population).
1.11 — Politics of Human Sexuality (December 3, 2009) : 5.42 million viewers (including 2.2% of the 18-49 population).
1.12 — Comparative Religion (December 10, 2009) : 5.51 million viewers (including 2.2% of the 18-49 population).
1.13 — Investigative Journalism (January 14, 2010) : 5.42 million viewers (including 2.3% of the 18-49 population).
1.14 — Interpretive Dance (January 21, 2010) : 4.73 million viewers (including 2.1% of the 18-49 population).
1.15 — Romantic Expressionism (February 4, 2010) : 5.23 million viewers (including 2.3% of the 18-49 population).
1.16 — Communication Studies (February 11, 2010) : 5.15 million viewers (including 2.3% of the 18-49 population).
1.17 — Physical Education (March 4, 2010) : 5.06 million viewers (including 2.3% of the 18-49 population).
1.18 — Basic Genealogy (March 11, 2010) : 4.70 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 population).
1.19 — Beginner Pottery (March 18, 2010) : 5.21 million viewers (including 2.1% of the 18-49 population).
1.20 — The Science of Illusion (March 25, 2010) : 5.07 million viewers (including 2.0% of the 18-49 population).
1.21 — Contemporary American Poultry (April 22, 2010) : 3.68 million viewers (including 1.6% of the 18-49 population).
1.22 — The Art of Discourse (April 29, 2010) : 4.37 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 population).
1.23 — Modern Warfare (May 6, 2010) : 4.36 million viewers (including 2.0% of the 18-49 population).
1.24 — English as a Second Language (May 13, 2010) : 4.49 million viewers (including 2.0% of the 18-49 population).
1.25 — Pascal's Triangle Revisited (May 20, 2010) : 4.41 million viewers (including 2.0% of the 18-49 population).



Season 2 (24 episodes) — Sophomore Year (September 23, 2010 - May 12, 2011) :

2.01 — Anthropology 101 (September 23, 2010) : 5.05 million viewers (including 2.2% of the 18-49 population).
2.02 — Accounting for Lawyers (September 30, 2010) : 4.53 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 population).
2.03 — The Psychology of Letting Go (October 7, 2010) : 4.20 million viewers (including 1.8% of the 18-49 population).
2.04 — Basic Rocket Science (October 14, 2010) : 4.81 million viewers (including 2.2% of the 18-49 population).
2.05 — Messianic Myths & Ancient Peoples (October 21, 2010) : 4.46 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 pop.).
2.06 — Epidemiology (October 28, 2010) : 5.64 million viewers (including 2.4% of the 18-49 population).
2.07 — Aerodynamics of Gender (November 4, 2010) : 4.61 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 population).
2.08 — Cooperative Calligraphy (November 11, 2010) : 4.63 million viewers (including 2.0% of the 18-49 population).
2.09 — Conspiracy Theories & Interior Design (Nov 18, 2010) : 4.41 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 pop.).
2.10 — Mixology Certification (December 2, 2010) : 4.55 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 population).
2.11 — Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas (December 9, 2010) : 4.30 million viewers (including 1.9% of the 18-49 pop.).
2.12 — Asian Population Studies (January 20, 2011) : 4.73 million viewers (including 2.2% of the 18-49 population).
2.13 — Celebrity Pharmacology (January 27, 2011) : 4.59 million viewers (including 2.2% of the 18-49 population).
2.14 — Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (February 3, 2011) : 4.37 million viewers (including 2.0% of the 18-49 pop.).
2.15 — Early 21st Century Romanticism (February 10, 2011) : 3.81 million viewers (including 1.8% of the 18-49 pop.).
2.16 — Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking (February 17, 2011) : 4.11 million viewers (incl. 1.8% of the 18-49 pop.).
2.17 — Intro to Political Science (February 24, 2011) : 3.79 million viewers (including 1.8% of the 18-49 population).
2.18 — Custody Law & Eastern European Diplomacy (March 17, 2011) : 4.22 million viewers (incl. 1.7% of the 18-49).
2.19 — Critical Film Studies (March 24, 2011) : 4.46 million viewers (including 1.8% of the 18-49 population).
2.20 — Competitive Wine Tasting (April 14, 2011) : 3.49 million viewers (including 1.4% of the 18-49 population).
2.21 — Paradigms of Human Memory (April 21, 2011) : 3.17 million viewers (including 1.4% of the 18-49 population).
2.22 — Applied Anthropology & Culinary Arts (April 28, 2011) : 3.35 million viewers (including 1.4% of the 18-49 pop.).
2.23 — A Fistful of Paintballs (May 5, 2011) : 3.49 million viewers (including 1.5% of the 18-49 population).
2.24 — For a Few Paintballs More (May 12, 2011) : 3.32 million viewers (including 1.5% of the 18-49 population).



Season 3 (22 episodes) — Junior Year (September 22, 2011 - May 25, 2012) :

3.01 — Biology 101 (September 22, 2011) : 3.93 million viewers (including 1.7% of the 18-49 population).
3.02 — Geography of Global Conflict (September 29, 2011) : 3.98 million viewers (including 1.8% of the 18-49 pop.).
3.03 — Competitive Ecology (October 6, 2011) : 3.35 million viewers (including 1.5% of the 18-49 population).
3.04 — Remedial Chaos Theory (October 13, 2011) : 3.78 million viewers (including 1.7% of the 18-49 population).
3.05 — Horror Fiction in 7 Spooky Steps (October 27, 2011) : 3.42 million viewers (including 1.4% of the 18-49 pop.).
3.06 — Advanced Gay (November 3, 2011) : 3.84 million viewers (including 1.7% of the 18-49 population).
3.07 — Studies in Modern Movement (November 10, 2011) : 3.49 million viewers (including 1.5% of the 18-49 pop.).
3.08 — Documentary Filmmaking Redux (November 17, 2011) : 3.62 million viewers (including 1.6% of the 18-49 pop.).
3.09 — Foosball & Nocturnal Vigilantism (December 1, 2011) : 3.74 million viewers (including 1.7% of the 18-49 pop.).
3.10 — Regional Holiday Music (December 8, 2011) : 3.60 million viewers (including 1.5% of the 18-49 pop.).
3.11 — Urban Matrimony & the Sandwich Arts (March 15, 2012) : 4.75 million viewers (including 2.2% of the 18-49 pop.).
3.12 — Contemporary Impressionists (March 22, 2012) : XX.XX million viewers (including X.X% of the 18-49 population).
3.13 — Digital Exploration of Interior Design (March 29, 2012) : XX.XX million viewers (incl. X.X% of the 18-49 pop.).
...
3.22 — Season Finale (May 25, 2012) : XX.XX million viewers (including X.X% of the 18-49 population).



Season 4 (25 episodes) — Senior Year (September 20, 2012 - May 23, 2013) [wishful thinking] ?

=> Community has been paired with :

- Episodes 1.01 to 1.03 (9:30pm) : The Office season 6.
- Episodes 1.04 to 1.24 : Parks and Recreation season 2.
- Episodes 2.01 to 2.11 : 30 Rock season 5.
- Episodes 2.12 to 2.19 : Perfect Couples.
- Episodes 2.20 and 2.21 : The Paul Reiser Show.
- Episodes 2.22 to 2.24 : The Office season 7 (encore presentations).
- Episodes 3.01 to 3.10 : Parks and Recreation season 4.
- Episodes 3.11 to 3.22 : 30 Rock season 6.

A few observations :

— When did Community's ratings start to go below 4.20 million viewers / 1.9% of the 18-49 demo (and didn't get back above those levels until last Thursday) ? At episode 2.14* (February 3, 2011), on the third week of the show's pairing with the unfunny trainwreck that was Perfect Couples. Not only was it bad (the first two episodes at least), imo, but it was also totally uncompatible with Community. It makes a lot more sense to pair Community with other funny shows, whether they're also kind of meta (30 Rock) or the other best comedy on TV (Parks and Recreation).

Things did not get better when NBC chose to pair Community with The Paul Reiser Show and then repeats of The Office. Not having a decent lead-out at 8:30 from January to May 2011 hurt the show a lot. * I know, episode 1.21 was surprisingly low with 3.67 million viewers / 1.6% of the 18-49 demo, but it was around 5 millions before and after so I leave it out to prove my point.

— During Community's absence, 30 Rock took over. The ratings of the multi Golden Globe/Emmy Award-winning series when anchoring the night ? Not better at all, even worse than Community last fall : 4.47 million viewers (1.8% of the 18-49 demo), 4.05 millions (1.6%), 3.82 millions (1.6%), 3.98 millions (1.9%) at 9pm, 3.23 millions (1.3%), 3.88 millions (1.6%) for a 1-hour episode, 3.59 millions (1.5%), 3.70 millions (1.5%), 3.77 millions (1.4%) and 3.42 millions (1.4%) :

- Average of the 18-49 rating of Community from September to December 2011 : 1.61.
- Average of the 18-49 rating of 30 Rock from January to March 2012 : 1.56 (with a 1-hour episode and an episode in The Office's time slot).

=> Community has been facing :

- Episodes 1.01 to 1.03 (9:30pm) : CSI season 10, Fringe season 2, Grey's season 6 and Supernatural season 5.
- Episodes 1.04 to 1.12 : Survivor, Bones season 5, FlashForward and The Vampire Diaries season 1.
- Episodes 1.13 to 1.18 : Survivor, American Idol, The Deep End and The Vampire Diaries season 1.
- Episodes 1.19 to 1.25 : Survivor, American Idol, FlashForward and The Vampire Diaries season 1.

- Episodes 2.01 to 2.03 : TBBT season 4, Bones season 6, My Generation and The Vampire Diaries season 2.
- Episodes 2.04 to 2.11 : TBBT season 4, Bones season 6, Grey's season 7 repeats and The Vampire Diaries season 2.
- Episodes 2.12 to 2.24 : TBBT season 4, American Idol, Wipeout and The Vampire Diaries season 2.

- Episodes 3.01 to 3.10 : TBBT season 5, X-Factor, Charlie's Angels and The Vampire Diaries season 3.
- Episodes 3.11 to 3.22 : TBBT season 5, American Idol, Missing and The Vampire Diaries season 3.

A few observations :

— No matter what we can say about NBC for putting the show on a 3-month hiatus, they stuck behind Community by keeping the show in its Thursday 8/7c time slot since October 8, 2009 (Parks and Recreation and 30 Rock, on the other hand, have both experienced 8:30pm and 9:30pm these past few years, they swapped frequently, 30 Rock even landed at 10pm at one point).

Since then, two and a half years have passed and Community had to face pretty much the same competition every year, except ABC which has had seven different programmes in front of Community, including memorable dramas such as FlashForward, The Deep End, My Generation and Charlie's Angels. ABC had to put Grey's Anatomy repeats for several weeks and the game show Wipeout in that time slots. Maybe Missing will join them all soon.

Other than those quickly forgotten shows, Community's fiercer opponents include its #1 enemy, The Big Bang Theory (Community's competition during its freshman season, Survivor, was less strong, especially in A18-49), but also The Vampire Diaries and Bones or a talent show (American Idol / X-Factor). Quite an opposition, and yet Community is still here, delivering laughter in a subtle and very creative way week after week.

Given all the good news we got (NBC promoting the show a lot, Sony supporting the show and pushing for season 4, the great DVD sales as always (btw, on Oct 6, 2010, the show's first season (released on Sept 21, 2010) was the #8 most bought DVD on Amazon.com and the #1 TV show DVD set !), the Comedy Central syndication pick up and now these amazing ratings (plus the NBC execs love the show)), it's likely we'll get our dose of Deancredible comedy gold until May 2013, and that's Changtastic !