“The Little Mermaid Live” averaged 9 million viewers and a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49 in same-day ratings — numbers that aren’t huge but are remarkable in 2019, when fragmented audiences aren’t watching day-and-date TV like they used to.
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Event Programming Like ‘Little Mermaid Live’ May Help Boost Networks
“The Little Mermaid Live” averaged 9 million viewers and a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49 in same-day ratings — numbers that aren’t huge but are remarkable in 2019, when fragmented audiences aren’t watching day-and-date TV like they used to.
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These are the things I miss when I don't watch live TV anymore. I did not actually know that ABC would follow in NBC's footsteps and produced a live special of a family friendly musical. I think that it was pretty gusty to do the Little Mermaid as the first one, as well, having an actress play a mermaid on stage is hard. However, ABC is now owned by Disney, so if any network channel could pull it off, I guess it might as well be ABC. I remember when the live Sound of Music aired in 2013, and I just remember Audra McDonalds amazing performance. I actually do not remember if we even watched the rest after that. My family is still one of the few that has cable, and though we also have Netflix, we sometimes watch on regular TV for sports games or just because. I did google the live version of the Little Mermaid, and the Under the Sea number was very well done in terms of tech and coordination with the numerous flying people on stage and around the audience. I did not particularly like the live audience or the camera work around them. It made me detached from watching the show. Yet, I know that now the the Little Mermaid is done, and exceeded expectations, ABC is going to continue producing more of them, as the vault of Disney is endless.
I think that it was interesting that NBC decided to create a live action musical similar to what NBC and Fox have been doing. However, I was slightly confused about the idea when it was announced seemingly alongside the new live action film. It seemed a lot of Little Mermaid in such a short amount of time, and it made me think about the fact that there are so many resources that are being put into either of these productions and made me wonder why these resources couldn't be put into a project that was new or original. What if these creative people put effort into a project that ended up becoming as culturally significant as the Little Mermaid has become now? It is a question that may go unanswered for a while since it appears we will be receiving reboot after reboot until the end of time, it would just be nice to have see some new, exciting, and original stories becoming more prevalent.
An interesting note about this article was the sentiment that streaming services are in heavier competition than traditional tv stations. I guess it is something that should be obviously noted by the way that their financial viability depends on subscription rather than viewing. I think subscription is a much more committed mode of view than just a traditional viewer, accounted for during broadcast on cable. With that in mind, it seems logical that specialty broadcasts would be a great opportunity to boost subscribers who perhaps stay for the month but continue throughout further because they like the content. I think something that is interesting about live musical broadcasts is that the audience range is typically multigenerational. In addition, I think mounting a Broadway show for one evening is typically cheaper than producing a new episode of a tv show. With that I think it is a great strategic plan to get ratings and subscription by mounting one-time only live events such as the broadway shows.
This article has me really torn, because on one hand I think that it's sad that these musicals are being produced with only money in mind, but also that's just life at this point. I didn't really realize how many people don't use cable anymore, and then I realized also that I pretty much only will tune into cable to watch a Live special like this (no matter how bad it's gonna be). I didn't have time to watch Little Mermaid Live, because I go to this school and free time doesn't exist, but it got pretty mixed reviews. I think that it's really interesting that the CEO said he doesn't care if it's a flop because either way they're getting attention. It's so sad that everything in cable television right now is so bad that they have to have that mentality. I am looking forward to a few more Disney musicals live, but at the same time,,, should I be? There are a lot of good musicals, I wish all these networks didn't just latch on to Disney.
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