FX's new spy drama The Americans opened on 1/30/2013 with 3.22 million viewers and a 1.24 demo rating. This was a rather solid number by FX standards at the time, about on par with a typical episode of the just-wrapped American Horror Story season, whose timeslot The Americans was inheriting. But it was quickly clear that level was not sustainable for The Americans; it fell nearly a third to a 0.85 in week two, then nearly a quarter more to 0.66 in week three. It hung in the general vicinity of 0.6 for most of the rest of season one.
That front-loaded trajectory became the norm for The Americans in the next two seasons, perhaps suggesting the show had huge promotional pushes. Season two opened on a 0.68 but took big drops the next two weeks, ultimately settling around 0.4. And season three made it all the way back up to 0.63 for the premiere, just barely below the season two premiere, but had a massive collapse to 0.35 the next week and was below 0.30 for the majority of episodes. These were pretty discouraging ratings, but FX kept bringing it back.
Steadier in Season Four
Season four was the first time that the critically-beloved drama was able to slow its bleeding to a reasonable level. After opening on what seemed like an awful 0.28, it really bucked the Americans trend by growing to 0.29 in week two. It hung in the low 0.2's to low 0.3's range for the entire season and actually never got down to the 0.19 low point from season three. Overall, it was a relatively steady season for the same-day ratings (by cable standards), even as The Americans remains one of the very biggest DVR percentage gainers on TV.
Near the end of season four, The Americans was renewed for two final seasons. The window has probably passed for this show to become a Breaking Bad-esque grower, but season four at least offered some hope that it can avoid becoming a bigger liability in the same-day ratings. The declines sped back up with a move to Tuesday in season five.
Adults 18-49 info by season:
| Seas | Year | Slot | Avg | y2y | Lo | Hi | Results | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2013 | Wednesday 10:00 | 0.69 | 0.4 | 1.2 | detail | ||
| 2 | Spring 2014 | 0.44 | -36% | 0.3 | 0.7 | detail | ||
| 3 | Winter 2015 | 0.31 | -29% | 0.2 | 0.6 | detail | ||
| 4 | Spring 2016 | 0.26 | -18% | 0.2 | 0.3 | detail | ||
| 5 | Spring 2017 | Tuesday 10:00 | 0.19 | -27% | 0.1 | 0.3 | detail | C |
| 6 | Spring 2018 | Wednesday 10:00 | 0.16 | -15% | 0.1 | 0.2 | detail |
Historical-adjusted ratings by season:
| Seas | Year | A18-49+ | Label | Now19 | y2y | Lo | Hi | Premiere | Finale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2013 | 33 | 21.01 | 59 | 59 | 29 | |||
| 2 | Spring 2014 | 24 | 17.44 | 36 | 36 | 24 | |||
| 3 | Winter 2015 | 19 | 11.30 | 37 | 37 | 20 | |||
| 4 | Spring 2016 | 18 | 14.42 | 22 | 19 | 14 | |||
| 5 | Spring 2017 | 15 | 9.80 | 23 | 20 | 16 | |||
| 6 | Spring 2018 | 15 | 11.87 | 20 | 13 | 20 | |||
| AVERAGE: | 20 | ||||||||
The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.
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