Ratings Bubble Report: Will ‘Quantico’ help season 3 odds on Mondays?
ABC’s “Quantico” is a show with a lot of moving parts, and a lot of things that are being juggled around. It’s only fitting that this would be the case for a show with two separate storylines, and a case that has underwent quite a makeover since the first season came on the air. It’s also a show in transition — it’s moving over to Monday nights for the first time in a matter of days, and later this season, we’re going to see things be consolidated down into a single timeline.
Will any of these changes help the show receive the third-season renewal that many fans are hoping for? In the latest edition of our Ratings Bubble Report, we’re going to do our part to examine this closely.
The power of the lead-in – You can argue easily that this is one of the biggest things that is holding the series back, given that it’s never had all that great of a lead-in ever since it first began. Most recently, the show aired after “The Family” last spring and “Secrets and Lies” this past fall. The former show was canceled by NBC, and some signs point to the same thing happening now with the latter. In coming on after “The Bachelor” Monday, the series is going to have its first real opportunity to air after an established hit. We’re interested to see how it fares, since it could make all of the difference in getting the show back for another season.
What will publicity do? – One other thing that is going for “Quantico” at the moment is that the show is frequent recipient of press from ABC; they air commercials for it regularly, and having star Priyanka Chopra win a People’s Choice Award this week (she seemed to be recovering well following a recent injury) was a nice bit of further attention on the show. These little things can end up ultimately going a long way.
International appeal – There are many different factors that help determine whether or not a show ends up coming back on the air, and having a star in Chopra with global appeal does make this show more attractive than many others that only have stateside followings. While this is far from the only thing we anticipate ABC considering when trying to determine whether or not to bring the series back on the air, it has to be looked at.
Let’s talk pure ratings – This is where things get a little trickier. As of right now, the series is averaging a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic (the most important for determining a show’s renewal / cancellation odds), and has not cracked a 1.0 since early October. If the show wants to have a comfortable shot at coming back, this is something that is going to need to improve in its new timeslot. It’s possible that it could happen, and we do think ABC wants it to happen. We just have to see if viewers in America are going to respond to the change.
Do you think that “Quantico” should be renewed for a third season?