Agents of SHIELD season 6 & and a live viewership surge
For a little more evidence on this subject, consider this — Friday night’s new episode drew over 2.43 million viewers. That, pending final adjustments (the show did adjust down last week), would make this the most-watched episode of the show since January 2018. In total, there were only three episodes of season 5 that actually drew better live viewership, and two of them just so happened to be the two-hour premiere.
So with this in mind, why is the show’s viewership precisely what it is this season? We think there actually is a little bit of appeal that comes from Agents of SHIELD airing in the summer. It’s a time when there isn’t a whole lot of competition elsewhere, and with the series’ summer-movie feel, there’s a little bit of value in just staying home and checking out this series as opposed to venturing outside for some other stuff on the night. Sure, we also think less in the way of TV competition helps, as the biggest threat to Agents of SHIELD last night was Blindspot, which aired its two-hour season 4 finale.
We wish we could come on and proclaim that the rise in viewership (which is around 10% over season 5) is going to deliver us more of SHIELD in the long-term, but it’s really kinda hard to buy into that idea. We already know that there is a season 7 coming, and with the timing of its renewal and also the fact that shows tend to get a whole lot more expensive after a season 7, we wouldn’t be shocked at all if that turns out to be the final season. We’re sure that ABC will continue to be in the Marvel business at the conclusion of it, and the #1 question we wonder is whether or not there will continue to be Agents of SHIELD characters who surface on whatever it is that the network decides to do next, whenever of course they decide to do that.
There is, alas, no new Agents of SHIELD episode next week, but while you wait, you can get more insight on the remainder of this season by heading over to the link here. We still have more than half of the season still to go, and that will lead to further opportunities to explore this story — but also deep-dives into the show’s numbers and what they mean for the overall future (if there are any dramatic swings, at least).
What do you think about Agents of SHIELD season 6 and its viewership surge at present? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments, and we certainly suggest that you stay tuned to get a little more information. (Photo: ABC.)