While we wait for Outlander season 3 ratings, let’s talk social impressions

We know that there are many people out there hungry for Outlander season 3 ratings, because we’ve heard from many of you and we want to be the ones to bring you this news! We said before the season that Tuesday would be when we would have ratings to share on the show every week, and by and large that will still be the case.

For those wondering what’s happened, the answer is simple: Hurricane Irma. Understandably, over the past several days there have been far more pressing matters in the world, and in general everything has been delayed with the Nielsen ratings as a result of the storm. We’ve seen a delay in broadcast ratings for most nights so far this week, and the cable ratings delay has been even more substantial.

Rest assured, though, that the numbers are coming and we’ll either update this CarterMatt article when we have them, or create a new one in the event that there is some especially good news to report (which is what we suspect!). Even with Irma playing a factor, we do still anticipate that the Outlander premiere will at the very least post a new series high for the show on Starz in total viewers. It’s a little too early to tell whether or not it toppled the network’s original programming record set by Power or came close to topping some of its average ratings; all we just want is some forward movement and good numbers. The stronger the show performs, the earlier Starz will lock in a season 5. There may not be any hurry to issue a renewal, but we’d like to see it happen by early 2018 so that the writers and producers can get started with some ideas. Starz would probably also like to issue an early renewal just as much as the fans want one, given that this is a signal of the show’s success. It’s great PR for them!

While we wait here at CarterMatt for those live numbers, let’s look for a moment at the Outlander season 3 ratings through a different lens: Social impressions. We have seen some of the data in terms of social traffic for the week of September 4 through the 10th (Nielsen also compiles such things), and everyone out there who loves the show has something to celebrate! With almost 140,000 uniques across Facebook and Twitter, this made it by far the most successful premium cable show for the week in this measure. With almost 300,000 total interactions, it actually was the seventh most-popular show overall ahead of America’s Got Talent. For those wondering the Miss America Pageant, American Horror Story: Cult, and Big Brother were the top three shows in terms of interactions. The Insecure finale on HBO was at #4; even though it had fewer uniques than Outlander, it did draw more impressions.

For those wondering, Nielsen defines uniques as “Unique social media accounts that have authored original content related to a linear TV episode or engaged with that content.” Meanwhile, impressions are “original social media posts related to a linear TV episode and the engagement with that content.”

While there is no relationship between social ratings and a show being renewed, we do think Outlander and Starz should be proud about having this vast a footprint so early in the season. It makes it all the more likely that they will withstand the impending network TV storm later this fall, and it also shows that the series and its fans can help promote it themselves.

Want some more news beyond the Outlander season 3 ratings?

If you head over here, you can get some additional insight regarding season 4 of the series. (Photo: Starz.)