‘Blue Bloods’ season 7 and its continued ratings dominance
Just a few minutes ago we first posted the ratings for Friday night’s new episode of “Blue Bloods.” They were, once again, incredibly positive: The show tied its season high with a 1.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is the best rating the show has received in the measurement since February 2013. Meanwhile, it also posted over 10.3 million viewers. This is a show averaging over 10 million an episode, and is the only one on Friday nights doing that. As a matter of fact, there is only one show on network TV from Friday through Sunday drawing more average viewers, and that is another CBS series in “NCIS: Los Angeles.”
What makes this all the more impressive to us is that “Blue Bloods” is not some promotional juggernaut. You rarely see it on billboards, or chatted about on entertainment talk shows. It’s a consistent warrior with a loyal audience who tunes in every week. Even when there are a million or so other options out there for what they could be doing on Fridays — and even when it could be easy for them to set their DVR — they still find a way to watch.
If you are looking for a secret to the “Blue Bloods” sauce, it has to start with the show’s universality. The presentation of the police officers on the show is not overtly political — it’s not telling you to endorse a left-wing or right-wing ideology, and instead, it’s a show thematically about uniting people and making the strongest version of New York City possible. There are few other series on television these days that look to carry through the same sort of hopefulness. Even when the detectives and officers fail, you know that they still did their best. Add to this an element of relatability — these are working people dealing with everyday struggles as a result of their job, and it just so happens that some of these struggles are heightened because they’re police officers. They can’t travel through time to change their mistakes or make the world better with superpowers. Even with Frank Reagan serving in a high-ranking job as the Commissioner, there’s still a salt-of-the-earth quality about him.
Also, you’ve got a memorable cast. Donnie Wahlberg has fans out there for both his music and acting work, Tom Selleck is a television icon, and you’ve got actors like Will Estes, Vanessa Ray, Amy Carlson, Bridget Moynahan, Marisa Ramirez, and Len Carlou who are known for doing a wide array of other shows such as “American Dreams,” “Third Watch,” “Pretty Little Liars,” and others — there’s a familiarity there. It’s so much easier to dive into a show when you already like the cast.
The obvious indicator of success is consistency, and this is probably where this show thrives the most. “Blue Bloods” is down only 2% in the demo right now from season 6, and only 3% in total viewers. Meanwhile, it was down only 4% and 7% respectively in that season versus season 5. In turn, season 5 was only down 8% and 1% from season 4. Season 4 was almost even in the demo and down 6% in viewers from season 3. That’s where much of our data starts to get murky, but the point at this point is made — in an era where many shows lose more than 10% on a yearly basis in both measurements, this show avoids it. It has that appeal where you really feel as though you are a part of the family, and that even if you miss an episode or two, you can still dive in and enjoy the story and relate to the characters.
Ultimately, the point here simple: “Blue Bloods,” provided that everyone involved wants to keep at it, is a show that is probably not going anywhere in the near future.
Why do you think that “Blue Bloods” manages to draw consistently such success? Let us know in the comments.
(Photo: CBS.)