Outlander season 3 episode 11 ratings bounce back after low outing

The Outlander season 3 episode 11 ratings are now in, and they are giving fans something to smile about. After all, it does seem like lead-up to the Thanksgiving holiday, plus also a prominent NFL game (typically they don’t often matter as much) and awards-show competition, were key factors in episode 3×10 bottoming out with some of the worst numbers this season.

Technically, there is still some bad news in that Sunday’s “Uncharted” drew 1.40 million viewers — the second-lowest total of the season. It’s pretty much even with how episode 3×02 fared opposite the Emmys earlier this year. The good news, however, is that this is an increase of over 160,000 viewers and therefore a sign that the drop for “Heaven & Earth” was just a one-time thing. This is more of the show’s natural resting place at the moment in the ratings — maybe it’s lost a little bit of ratings steam over the past few weeks following the Print Shop, but it’s still an enormously successful show. Remember that we’re only speaking here about the live+same-day ratings, which come solely from viewers who are watching Starz via traditional means. These numbers don’t include app views, DVR ratings, or repeat viewings later in the week. There are more than five million viewers watching Outlander in total every week, and that’s only viewers within America. The number obviously balloons out when you think about international numbers, but there are very few ways to accurately measure all of that data.

What this ratings turnaround means mostly is that Starz is set up better to come close to breaking a record for the season 3 finale, given that final episodes do lead to a spike in viewers. The recent ratings low makes us slightly less bullish about Outlander matching the 1.72 million drawn by “A. Malcolm,” but hopefully the show can make it close to there. Sunday’s episode “The Bakra” is going to be a chance to build momentum in that direction, though some of you who subscribe to the belief that episode titles are a determining factor may think that this episode isn’t inspiring too much in the way of viewership with that and that alone. Personally, CarterMatt doesn’t think titles play a huge role in whether or not someone tunes in.

Will this improvement in the ratings lead to a renewal? We’d say at this point in the season the impact is minimal since Starz obviously wants more of the show regardless; So does Sony and the cast and crew all still seem eager to keep making it. We think some recent comments from Chris Parnell at Sony about renewal conversations matter more than individual ratings at this point, provided that we’re not talking about any big swings in the numbers. You can read a little bit more about what he had to say over here, plus also some more as to why it matters.

What do you think about the Outlander season 3 episode 11 ratings? Be sure to share in the comments!

Meanwhile, like CarterMatt on Facebook to get more news on Outlander plus many other shows we cover. (Photo: Starz.)