24: Live Another Day 30 day ratings show large increase

24: Live Another Day key art
24: Live Another Day key art

Those who have been following the ratings for 24: Live Another Day know the live overnight figures haven’t been all that stellar. But recently released data from FOX paints a different picture.

The third episode of 24: Live Another Day aired on May 12th and we now have the thirty day multi-platform ratings which count all viewings of the show (live, DVR, encores, video on demand, and streaming) over a 30 day period. We’ll attempt to break down the data below:

  • Live+SD: The live + same day DVR ratings for the third episode were 8.3 million viewers. These are people who watched between the air time of 9:00pm and 3:00am when the numbers get sent to Nielsen for processing.
  • Live+7: The Live+7 ratings measure live viewing plus DVR viewing up to seven days later. The total audience for this was 11.7 million meaning another 3.4 million people caught up from their DVR during the first week.
  • Encores: An additional 2.1 million viewers watched the episode via the encore airing that Friday.
  • VOD and Streaming: lastly is video on demand and streaming services such as Hulu and Fox.com which added another 1.7 million viewers to the tally.

Altogether it adds up to a much more impressive 15.6 million total viewers which is a massive +87% increase from the initial ratings. This means 24 is the second most popular show on FOX after American Idol (the Idol season finale delivered 17.8 million viewers that week).

For comparison, at the absolute peak of 24‘s popularity, the heavily promoted and critically acclaimed fifth season premiered to 17.01 million viewers and averaged 13.78 million viewers throughout. Back then in early 2006, DVR usage was only an insignificant 1.6% and streaming services like Hulu didn’t even exist.

What this shows is that 24 hasn’t really lost much of its total audience, many just aren’t watching it live on Monday nights.

Unfortunately that is a problem as advertisers typically only care about Live+3 ratings (which measure live viewing plus DVR viewing up to three days later). Most commercials are time sensitive: movie studios want you to see their new film on opening weekend, restaurants want you to try their limited-time specials, etc. There is also the assumption that most DVR viewers skip the advertisements.

So as large as these 30 day ratings might be, the millions of people watching via DVR and online simply don’t matter as much as the earlier figures when it comes to negotiating ad rates. Now if FOX could somehow get these millions of DVR viewers to watch the show live, it’d be a much different story.

Source TV By The Numbers thanks Rob

40 Comments

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So does this mean fox will consider to order a season 10 for next year then? I hope so, this new series has been excellent and want more 24.

Only 2 more episodes to go which is not good :(

Me too more 24 more jack bauer

Thanks for the breakdown there. That’s really good news, and interesting to see how different the television landscape is now compared to 8 years ago.

JackBauerFan1977
July 4, 2014 at 9:58 am
I really hope that FOX believes that the live+3 ratings for “24: Live Another Day” have been good enough and then soon decide to order a Season 10 for next year. It’s great to know that 24 is the second most watched show on FOX. For this ninth season of 24, I’ve always tuned into FOX on Monday nights just to watch 24. It’s the only show on FOX that I’m a fan of.

FOX pleeeeeeeease order season 10

They must renew! They MUST! This show is like drugs. And I need my fix.

Even though 24 is my all time favorite TV series and will probably forever hold that title, I think that Live Another Day should be the final season of the show because of how everything is wrapping up nicely.

Season 9 is by far a better last season of the show than Season 8 was.

This. Everything is really coming together for a fantastic series finale. We’ve got the Chinese AND the Russians coming after Jack plus WWIII may have already started. It’s not even a threat anymore. That Chinese carrier has ALREADY been destroyed. Even though I love 24 and always will, I kinda think it’s time to say goodbye. I’m glad it came back (the drone chase scene alone, the first of its kind in TV or cinema, made it worth it) but I think this is a chance to end the show on a more definite note than Season 8’s finale, which I really really liked back in 2010 (goddamn, has it been that long?).

SEASON 10!

This just shows how 24 is still a pretty popular show and how TV watching has changed in the past decade. 24 was at the forefront of that change, with its serial storytelling which really started in that 1999-2001 period where The Sopranos, The West Wing and 24 all premiered. It also began the trend of binge watching through DVDs, and no one denies that.

With LAD, I personally waited until 7 episodes had already aired to start watching on the internet. I watched the first 8 in about 10 days. This was planned so that I’d watch the first 8 quickly, but the final 4 on a week by week basis with everyone else (it’s also because I was really busy during the airing of the first few weeks and couldn’t possibly have seen them :)). It worked wonders, I tell you, since the first 5 episodes while good aren’t really comparable quality wise with episodes 6-10 which are really good, sometimes great and have gotten better and better every week.

Advertisers still won’t care though… and that goes for all network shows (most of which are crap).

Personally, I liked Episodes 1 & 2 A LOT and 3 & 4 pretty well. Episode 5 and 6 are probably the worst of the season because it feels like Kate Morgan is the protagonist and not Jack. In Episode 7, the focus is kind of 50/50 between Jack and Kate, and I feel like Episodes 8-10 have, for the most part, been about Jack again.

As I look back at the first ten episodes of this season, I really am more impressed than I was when they first premiered. I have really liked LAD, and my only complaints with the season are as follows:

-The obvious CGI problems, (which I can look past due to the plot of the season)
-The Heller ‘fake-out’ probably shouldn’t have taken place
-I originally didn’t like Navarro as a mole, but I have grown to like his character more and more
-The biggest problem of the season is that Jack Bauer doesn’t feel like the main character all the time, and Kate Morgan has way too much focus

Other than those few issues, I’d consider LAD one of my personal favorite seasons, along with 3, 5, and 7.

I quite like the way they wrote Kate Morgan it gives us another character to feel for.

I don’t feel like she has enough depth as a character, though. She’s too much like Jack, and that’s mainly how we can tell she is the writers’ choice for a new series if they decide to make one.

Well, there is a paradox.
There is basically two ways to give a character more depth in a show like this. One is to give that character more screentime. But you don’t want that…
And the other option is to give that character a lot of emotions in a short period of time, but then you run into another issue: A professional CIA field agent is pr definition emotionally rock solid -as long as we actually want an authentic character. And Kate is one of the most authentic and real characters in 24 history. Very well written with a great balance between strengths and flaws. Personally I much rather see a few complain about Kate ‘lacking depth’ than to have a cartoon figure on screen.

They should make season 10 called 24/7 a seven episode series which is based over one week each episode is based on one day of the week e.g. episode one is Monday, episode two is Tuesday it would give the writers a lot more flexibility with what they can do and it would be cool to see what they do with this advantage.

This is a brilliant idea! It’d be a way for them to recreate the format but still keep the real time feel, still keep the ticking clock on the screen. The movie talk always made me wary, because I dunno how a full 24 story could be condensed and contained into just two hours, but a 24/7 mini-series would hit the spot between a movie and LAD just right. If they wanted to reinvent the show for Kate, this would be a same-but-different way to achieve that.

i bet if they add a number for pirated episode it’d go up at least half a millie

That’s true but pirated episodes don’t have a single 30 second ad. That makes those views worthless in the advertisers eyes.

For FOX, I suppose it’s a mixed bag. They were probably happy with the initial ratings, and less so with recent weeks. However, they did choose to air LAD over the summer, and FOX’s ratings have been perennially weak in general, so what did they expect?

Still, they have critical acclaim to go on. LAD is by far ’24’s’ most positively-received season in years, per fans and publications; and, likely, the most critically-acclaimed drama FOX has aired in recent times (‘Almost Human’ comes close, I suppose). It even has a “chance” for a few Emmy nods in the miniseries category, especially if it ends strong (“chance” is in quotes because FOX will have to bank on the nominating committee having remembered ’24’ by next year, since LAD missed the window for 2014 by a few episodes). So there’s that, and the good L+30 ratings, which actually mean a lot for a struggling network like FOX. In a year when the CW has been beating FOX some nights in the demo, having a competitive summer show is probably a relief for the network—even if the L+3 ratings are weak.

Right now, I’d say there is a 50-50 chance of FOX ordering another series. Really, I doubt anyone at FOX knows what direction they will take right now, and are waiting for the finale to make that determination. Regardless of whether this is ’24’s’ swan song or not, I think we can all agree that LAD was definitely worth the wait.

I kind of agree with you. But if there’s a 50-50 chance, why not err on the side of renewing a series that has proven it can at least deliver something that’s moderately positive and reliable?

That’s why I have hope for more. If it’s really a decision that has the execs thinking “meh, whatever,” pulling the trigger and going for a tenth season isn’t all that risky.

It’s definitely true that LAD has gotten the critics on its side, which i really really wasn’t expecting. They’re not over the moon for it, but they’re definitely enjoying the thrills and writing good reviews about it (especially these later episodes, which is great).

Meridith Bloom
July 5, 2014 at 1:09 am
I feel the public didn’t identify with the Margot Al-Harazi storyline as much as people are now identifying with returning antagonists: I loved Margot as an enemy but Cheng Zhi brought the fans back.

Remove the fucking dreadful commercials and I’ll watch it live instead of PVR… Until that day comes (never…), I will always PVR every single show I watch. Unless, it is a commercial-free TV/movie channel.

Please keep 24 on and please keep jack Bauer the main character no show without him

Pirated episodes do have product placement.

Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con todos uds quiero una SEASON 10!!!!! viva Jack Bauer.

I really like season 9, fanatic from Argentina.
I hope there is season 10!!!

Given this data, I actually think it makes more sense to take 24 away from television and put it on the big screen. If this many people paid for movie tickets, that would translate to roughly $150 million in box office revenue.

There just is no other show on television, with the exception perhaps of Homeland, that I can’t wait to see week after week, and no other show who’s hour flies by so fast. PLEASE bring this series back for good. Its simply the best!

Now if only they would reorder Lie To Me as well.

I think 24 should go on forever! If Fox is stupid enough to not renew 24 -then the producers should move it to cable. There is nothing like 24 and never will be and it still works magic. Even if Jack were 85 and confined to a wheelchair and on oxygen – I would still watch. Nothing can stop Jack Bauer… not even death. If Jack were to die he can always come back as a Spirit Guide… 24 is eternal!

Glad to see that “24” is still popular, with a 30 day viewing total of over 15 million viewers!

If you are like us, we do not watch the show Monday nights – the 20 minutes worth of ads break the pace of the show. We usually contain ourselves and wait until we can watch 3 shows all at once.

It is far more exciting that way and there are less ads.

Hope for a season 10!

“24 Live Another Day” is the only network TV program that I watch. Despite being in it’s 9th season, 24 remains fresh and is well scripted, well acted and the most exciting and entertaining program on television today. I hope the decision is made to make season 10.

We will start watching Season 1 again. Love LAD, we do not watch it live, 20 minutes of commercials is way too much.

These numbers also don’t cover the numbers downloaded by bit torrent.

They are huge. many .torrent files are created for each episode, and for each of them tens of thousands of copies are downloaded.

For example, for episode 11, three days after it aired, for one of these torrents on July 10th at 5:20 pm EDT I see 7701 seeds and 8044 peers. This is impressive, considering the file size (246 MB) means downloaders need only stay online for less than 10 minutes to grab the show — and most people don’t stick around to seed.

Within the first show after the show ended, this same .torrent file had over 27,000 seeds and 44,000 peers. If you crunch the numbers for this .torrent file alone, it may well have distributed several million copies of the show.

There are several implications for this data, of course. It shows how under-estimated the official numbers are and how popular the show really is. But it also shows that the producers/FOX have real opportunities to charge more for product placement, which is advertising that isn’t deleted by DVR, etc. watchers It may also give a glimpse into the potential for the big Blu-Ray release.

I just re-watched Day 5 in less than a 24 hour period (I originally watched the entire series from bit torrents in under 3 weeks, a few years back, never having seen it on TV) and maybe it’s just me, but it’s remarkable how the impact isn’t dulled by remembering what I did from the original viewing. It stands up to repeated viewing and is as addictive the second time around (hence Day 5 binge-watch).

I write this as someone who has viewed TV in 7 different decades, although in different quantities, and don’t watch a lot today.

24 is by far the best show on television. I can’t imagine life after 24. Please consider renewing 24 for as many seasons as possible. Of course, I would love to see Kiefer Sutherland, as Jack Bauer, for all and any upcoming seasons. 24 has become part of my family. Please renew another season of 24.
Your number one fan,
Cher Ann

Linda Yielding
July 15, 2014 at 9:13 am
24 live again needs to have another season ,there is too many lose ends want him ,cloie and the others that was left hanging love the show on tv netflex or hula plus . Just let the show com back and live again

I watch it on iTunes the day after each new episode shows on Fox. It just fits into my schedule better, and, I can watch it from my computer with headphones maxed to 10. Face it, the old fans have lives these days, but we still watch, so don’t forget us!

And, old TV is boring. We live in a digital age these days, so there’s 100000 ways to watch, and it takes more time to collect the data than an overnight rating that moron reviewers don’t consider and just want the show dead. Luckily, filmmakers including myself look at the overall data. They’ll see the ratings, and there will clearly be another 24.

hitler was right
August 2, 2014 at 1:31 pm
Tried to get into it- couldn’t. Now if he would go fight the real enemy of the US- Israel and International Jewry- I would watch that.