CRIMINAL MINDS Season 10 - Summer Recap - Ratings Round Up

One more year, once we enjoyed the season finale of Criminal Minds and enjoyed even more learning of its renewal for another season, we waited [not so] patiently for final ratings to be published so you, our dear fellow fans, can browse and discuss the results of our numbers harvesting since the premiere.


The first table, just below, shows us PER EPISODE:

• the LIVE + SAME DAY ratings (3 demos: A1849, A1834 & A2554, plus TOTAL VIEWERS)
• the LIVE + 7 DAYS ratings (L7 A1849 demo & its increase over the L+SD, L7 TOTAL VIEWERS & its increase over the L+SD)

...and SEASON AVERAGES:

• full season
• before the Christmas break (episodes 1 to 10), because these run without interruptions
• after the Christmas break (episodes 11 to 23), because these run with interruptions for reruns and/or other programs

CRIMINAL MINDS SEASON 10: L+SD & L7 RATINGS

EPISODE	L+SD A1849	L+SD A1834	L+SD A2554	L+SD VIEWERS		L7 A1849	L7 Increase	L7 VIEWERS	L7 Increase
1	2.70	1.60	3.80	11,741,000		4.50	1.80	16,275,000	4,534,000
2	2.29	1.10	3.40	10,574,000		3.80	1.50	14,595,000	4,021,000
3	2.41	1.30	3.30	10,895,000		3.90	1.50	14,919,000	4,024,000
4	2.47	1.30	3.30	9,924,000		3.90	1.40	13,840,000	3,915,000
5	2.34	1.40	3.20	10,480,000		3.80	1.50	14,195,000	3,707,000
6	2.12	1.10	3.00	9,785,000		3.80	1.70	14,175,000	4,390,000
7	2.31	1.40	3.10	10,352,000		3.90	1.60	14,449,000	4,097,000
8	2.27	1.20	3.30	10,676,000		3.80	1.50	14,714,000	4,038,000
9	2.23	1.20	2.90	11,005,000		3.80	1.60	14,878,000	3,873,000
10	2.17	1.20	3.00	10,094,000		3.70	1.60	14,111,000	4,017,000
11	2.22	1.20	3.00	10,307,000		3.60	1.40	14,455,000	4,148,000
12	1.95	1.00	2.80	10,286,000		3.50	1.50	14,395,000	4,109,000
13	2.13	1.20	3.00	10,703,000		3.70	1.60	14,991,000	4,282,000
14	2.02	1.00	2.90	10,478,000		3.50	1.50	14,402,000	3,923,000
15	1.94	1.20	2.80	9,892,000		3.30	1.40	13,619,000	3,660,000
16	2.00	1.20	2.90	10,395,000		3.60	1.60	14,972,000	4,277,000
17	2.06	1.20	2.90	10,319,000		3.50	1.40	14,026,000	3,566,000
18	2.08	1.00	2.80	10,078,000		3.50	1.50	14,197,000	4,213,000
19	2.10	1.00	2.70	10,394,000		3.50	1.40	14,396,000	4,000,000
20	2.09	1.10	2.70	10,370,000		3.50	1.40	14,114,000	3,740,000
21	2.01	1.20	2.70	10,060,000		3.50	1.40	13,991,000	3,931,000
22	1.80	0.90	2.30	8,720,000		3.10	1.30	12,302,000	3,586,000
23	1.84	1.10	2.70	9,610,000		3.20	1.40	13,350,000	3,740,000
SEASON AVERAGE	2.15	1.18	2.98	10,310,348		3.65	1.50	14,320,043	3,990,913
BEFORE CHRISTMAS	2.33	1.28	3.23	10,552,600		3.89	1.57	14,615,100	4,061,600
AFTER CHRISTMAS	2.02	1.10	2.78	10,124,000		3.46	1.45	14,093,077	3,936,538

ratings source: Nielsen
table by: Merlin & Sir Elyan (numbers nutsos extraordinaire) with help from Mordred (our doomed Padawan)


The second table is a comparison between seasons. During SEASON 9 we were not able to compile all this data on a weekly basis, but we have the AVERAGES*, which are even better to determine the season to season trend:

CRIMINAL MINDS: FROM SEASON 9 TO SEASON 10

SEASON	2013-2014	2014-2015	RAW DIFFERENCE	% DIFFERENCE
L+SD A1849 AVERAGE	2.49	2.15	-0.34	-13.65%
L7 A1849 AVERAGE	3.80	3.51	-0.29	-7.63%
L+SD VIEWERS AVERAGE	10,880,000	10,310,000	-570,000	-5.24%
L7 VIEWERS AVERAGE	14,415,000	13,740,000	-675,000	-4.68%

ratings source: Nielsen
table by: Merlin & Sir Elyan (numbers nutsos extraordinaire) with help from Mordred (our doomed Padawan)

2 things worth remembering to understand this table in full:

• historically, from season to season, network shows lose around 10-12% of their viewers.
• The Criminal Minds' viewers, like it's happening to many shows nowadays, are changing more and more their habits, and opting to watch on their own terms and time through recordings and streaming.
• Nielsen for now is unable to track certain gadgets, so viewers that nowadays use their tablets, their smartphones, et al, are not counted unless they use the CBS official app.

*viewers averages are rounded, hence why they look so "tidy"


The third table shows us the SEASON AVERAGES OF ALL CBS DRAMAS (for renewal purposes, dramas compete against dramas, and comedies against comedies, so we are skipping the latter)

CBS SEASON 2014-2015: L+SD & L7 DRAMAS AVERAGES

SHOW	L+SD A1849	L+SD VIEWERS		L7 VIEWERS	L7 A1849	SHOW
NCIS	2.43	17,260,000		14,320,000	3.70	CRIMINAL MINDS
SCORPION	2.30	10,960,000		15,229,000	3.60	SCORPION
CRIMINAL MINDS	2.15	10,310,348		21,183,000	3.50	NCIS
NCIS NEW ORLEANS	2.08	15,260,000		18,397,000	2.90	NCIS NEW ORLEANS
NCIS L.A.	1.60	9,280,000		12,975,000	2.50	NCIS L.A.
PERSON OF INTEREST	1.53	9,420,000		13,111,000	2.40	PERSON OF INTEREST
STALKER*	1.50	7,500,000		11,432,000	2.40	ELEMENTARY
MADAME SECRETARY	1.44	11,820,000		10,382,000	2.40	STALKER*
CSI: CYBER	1.39	8,110,000		11,281,000	2.20	CSI: CYBER
THE MENTALIST*	1.34	9,280,000		15,134,000	2.10	BLUE BLOODS
CSI*	1.30	8,260,000		11,190,000	2.10	CSI*
BLUE BLOODS	1.29	11,290,000		12,551,000	2.00	HAWAII 5-0
ELEMENTARY	1.28	7,420,000		14,168,000	1.90	MADAME SECRETARY
HAWAII 5-0	1.24	9,480,000		11,808,000	1.90	THE MENTALIST*
THE GOOD WIFE	1.22	9,720,000		12,268,000	1.80	THE GOOD WIFE
BATTLE CREEK*	0.77	6,230,000		8,320,000	1.20	BATTLE CREEK*

L+SD and L7 separately listed by A1849
shows marked with * have been cancelled
ratings source: Nielsen
table by: Merlin & Sir Elyan (numbers nutsos extraordinaire) with help from Mordred (our doomed Padawan)

There are a two things the averages don't reflect:

• Most weeks NCIS has effectively been CBS #1 drama in the A1849 demo in L+SD, but not all... This season, for the 1st time ever, Criminal Minds has snatched that particular "throne" from under their feet a couple times.
• Many weeks already in the L3 (LIVE + 3 DAYS) ratings Criminal Minds has effectively become CBS #1 drama in A1849 (we only have seen this rating for a number of weeks, so there is no table with averages to show), with the gap between both shows widening in L7.

And there is one particular thing the L7 prove, and CBS recognized it when announcing its new fall schedule, so using their own words: Criminal Minds is CBS #1 drama in the A1849 demo!


To round up our annual ratings post, some notes about how Criminal Minds did when compared to other NETWORK shows (only regular programming included, L7 averages):

• Versus Dramas, in TOTAL VIEWERS: Criminal Minds is #8
• Versus Dramas, in A1849: Criminal Minds is #7
• Versus All, in TOTAL VIEWERS: Criminal Minds is #9
• Versus All, in A1849: Criminal Minds is #9

Source: Nielsen
Via: TVbyTheNumbers.com - to peruse the full tables, follow the link


And last, some Bonus Data that while it veers away from the ratings we have been talking about, we are sure you will find as interesting and comment-worthy as we do. Before anything else, we have to request a thundering applause from all for MCatry, commenter at the Previously TV Forum, who has painstakingly counted the hours/minutes/seconds - screentime only (appearing on screen equals being counted), not quality of their parts at the time (from delivering the most important line to playing background) - episode by episode to reach the results shown in the following table:

MAIN CHARACTERS & UNSUBS SCREENTIME

CHARACTER	HOURS	MINUTES	SECONDS
UNSUBS	5	16	13
JAREAU	4	21	48
HOTCHNER	4	18	34
ROSSI	4	8	34
MORGAN	3	54	16
CALLAHAN	3	25	12
REID	2	55	52
GARCIA	2	0	24

data source: MCatry
table by: Sir Elyan


We have looked at this data every conceivable way, - up to down, down to up, left to right, right to left, rinse & repeat, - so yes, we have opinions, strong ones at that, derived from what those ratings are telling us, and from the Bonus Table too... but those are not included because the data is objective, while we are not. Now is your turn to check all this, reach your own conclusions and share them with our fellow Criminal Minds fans!
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