Black Network TV Ratings Update – The Mighty Sleepy Hollow Has Fallen!
24hr Viewership (In Millions)
The Fall 2014 television season is in full swing, and its time to check in on the Black network television show ratings. This article excludes shows on cable networks, and focuses on the major broadcast networks like Fox and ABC. We’re covering recent ratings for Scandal, Sleepy Hollow, Gotham, How To Get Away With Murder, and Black-Ish, since each of these shows features Black characters in important or leading roles. Total viewer numbers includes the amount of viewers who watched the show within 24 hours of the episode airing last week (Week of November 2nd – November 8th 2914). In order of most to least viewership, Scandal led the ratings with 9.82 million viewers. It was closely followed by How To Get Away With Murder, which had 9.18 million viewers. The mystery drama has dropped in live viewership since its debut but this is no surprise. The show premiered with record breaking numbers that would have been a big accomplishment to maintain. Additionally, the plot is so complicated that viewers who miss a few episode will be lost if they try to tune in again.
Black-ish, another ABC network program, had 7.67 million viewers its last episode. The show has earned a lot of critical praise, and viewers have responded positively. The show gets bundles of love on social media. I think this one will be around for a while.
Fox’s Gotham maintained pretty stable viewership. It earned 6.63 million viewers, which isn’t at all impressive compared to the network’s other hit shows. With today’s changing TV landscape, the live viewers aren’t all that is important. The show does well in digital views the week following a new episode and has many passionate fans.
Finally we have Sleepy Hollow. The show is at rock bottom and ratings this season have been a disaster.  Since the season 2 premiere, Sleepy Hollow’s live viewership has dropped by over 70%. The show debuted to 12.5 million live viewers, and by last week attracted only 4.52 million viewers. Last year Sleepy Hollow was topping Scandal in ratings. It was an enormous hit for Fox. Consistent viewership in the double digit millions was expected of this show. The way its looking now, this show could be facing the ax soon.It would be a blessing and a curse. The show has given Nicole Beharie some exposure, and she could go on to do bigger and better things. However, the loss of this show will decrease the amount of Black women in major roles on network television.
