Thanks to Darkness for the heads up.
Five episodes in, ABC next week will likely have to make a renewal decision on its new drama series The Whispers, which has shown promise in the early going, especially in DVR viewing.
The network has found itself in that predicament because of how The Whispers came about. The drama was originally picked up abclogoto series in May 2014 for a midseason launch, with standard cast options until June 30 2015. That normally gives networks plenty of time to make decisions on fall and midseason series. But in the case of The Whispers, the horror-tinged drama was pushed to a summer run and premiered on June 1. I hear there has been an effort on part of ABC and producing studio ABC Studios to get a short, two-week option extension on the actors until July 15, but that doesn’t seem to be panning out, at least for now. That would make next Tuesday, the day after Episode 5 airs, the deadline to make a decision on Season 2.
I hear ABC brass have been happy with The Whispers‘ performance so far, and sources are cautiously optimistic about a potential renewal. The genre series premiered with a 1.5 adults Live+same day rating among adults 18-49 and 5.7 million viewers in the Monday 10 PM hour to become the network’s highest-rated summer scripted premiere since Rookie Blue in 2010. With a strong delayed viewing, The Whispers‘ premiere result shot up +53% in Live+3 to a 2.3, becoming the highest-rated L+3 summer debut on any network in 2 years – since CBS’ Under The Dome in 2013. While The Whispers‘ Live+same day ratings have dipped after the solid debut, they have been consistent: 1.0. 0.9, 1.0, and the portion of DVR viewing has increased. On average in the Live + 3 data, The Whispers grows 64% over L+SD in 18-49. The new drama also adds another 2.0 million total viewers, drawing an average audience of 6.6 million viewers in L3.
The network has found itself in that predicament because of how The Whispers came about. The drama was originally picked up abclogoto series in May 2014 for a midseason launch, with standard cast options until June 30 2015. That normally gives networks plenty of time to make decisions on fall and midseason series. But in the case of The Whispers, the horror-tinged drama was pushed to a summer run and premiered on June 1. I hear there has been an effort on part of ABC and producing studio ABC Studios to get a short, two-week option extension on the actors until July 15, but that doesn’t seem to be panning out, at least for now. That would make next Tuesday, the day after Episode 5 airs, the deadline to make a decision on Season 2.
I hear ABC brass have been happy with The Whispers‘ performance so far, and sources are cautiously optimistic about a potential renewal. The genre series premiered with a 1.5 adults Live+same day rating among adults 18-49 and 5.7 million viewers in the Monday 10 PM hour to become the network’s highest-rated summer scripted premiere since Rookie Blue in 2010. With a strong delayed viewing, The Whispers‘ premiere result shot up +53% in Live+3 to a 2.3, becoming the highest-rated L+3 summer debut on any network in 2 years – since CBS’ Under The Dome in 2013. While The Whispers‘ Live+same day ratings have dipped after the solid debut, they have been consistent: 1.0. 0.9, 1.0, and the portion of DVR viewing has increased. On average in the Live + 3 data, The Whispers grows 64% over L+SD in 18-49. The new drama also adds another 2.0 million total viewers, drawing an average audience of 6.6 million viewers in L3.
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