Revisiting the Impact of Structural Factors on Television Audience Behavior in the Streaming Age

The current study uses national Nielsen ratings data for the five English-language broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, the CW, Fox and NBC) from the 2014, 2015 and 2016 television seasons to build on the more than 50 years of television audience scholarship by examining whether the factors traditionally found to impact primetime entertainment TV program ratings continue to do so in today’s media environment. The relationship between audience availability and program ratings followed traditional patterns. Importantly, the study found a heavy reliance on marquee events and special episodes of popular series to boost ratings at the expense of schedule predictability.