Top > Business > 2006 > October > 2006-10-18

Heroes Prevent NBC`s Downfall

Most of us think that television is all about entertainment and fun, however, television is serious business, and people who work on it realize pretty well that television`s most important goal is to make money. The first thing that major television networks think about is revenue. And we all know that big money come hand-in-hand with big ratings. Therefore, with the third quarter coming to an end all the big networks are evaluating their profits and sizing up the ratings.

One of the most crucial elements of television ratings is the 18-49 age group audience. Thus, the network has to make sure that this key audience will receive the shows they will be attracted to. Lately, NBC has lost its prime-time king crown, the ratings have dropped significantly in comparison to the other major networks, and the shows that NBC had hoped will be successful among viewers were an obvious miss. However, looks like in the fourth quarter of the year the proceeds will increase, and will make up for the downfall of earnings by 10 percent, that occurred in the third quarter.

This newly acquired hope for NBC is due to its new incredibly successful drama series ? "Heroes". Already in the first half of October the ratings jumped to 13.5 million viewers per week, and this puts NBC`s "Heroes" to 11-th place in the 18-49 audience. So, the network will most likely strive to keep the popular shows coming to increase its revenue even more.