‘Fargo’ season 2 premiere ratings down; what’s the reason why?

Going into Monday’s season 2 premiere of “Fargo” on FX, we expected the show to at least be bringing with it a certain amount of ratings. The first season was brilliant, and the early reviews for the second have been equally great.

Yet, the numbers were down by a pretty wide margin. The season 2 premiere last night drew (per Deadline) a 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and then also 1.6 million viewers to go along with that. These numbers are not going to be confirmed by the network itself until the live+3 figures come out, given that this is now the way that they have decided to do things. They realize that there are just as many people, if not more, watching after the fact with a recording device. “The Americans,” for example, is one of the most time-shifted shows on all of TV.

To us, there are two primary reasons why we are seeing such a decline for this show in particular.

Competition – “Fargo” aired last night against not only “Blindspot,” “Castle,” and “NCIS: Los Angeles,” but also Monday Night Football. Many of these shows cater to at least a moderately similar audience, and football is simply far-reaching.

Confusion – How many people really knew the show was on? The first season premiered in the spring of 2014, and if you change up your airing schedule, it is sometimes hard to recruit viewers who have not seen any commercials somewhere else.