How To Talk About TV Shows And Movies

We all spend many evenings watching top-rated shows like The Last of Us, You, or Young Sheldon…or do we? The truth is most of us have not seen those shows.

We assume that almost everyone has seen the top-rated shows we and our friends watch. Let’s look at the facts:

The super bowl of television shows is well, the Super Bowl. It is by far the most-watched show of every year. This year’s game averaged 113 million viewers. The US Census Bureau estimates the country’s population at over 334 million. That means only about a third of the US watched the number one show of the year! We must note that Rhianna’s halftime show outdrew the game with 118 million viewers.

Due to fragmentation, it gets worse on a weekly basis. Last week, Young Sheldon was the most-watched TV show with just over 7 million viewers followed by The Last of Us at over 6 million. Only about 3% of the US watched the two top-rated shows! In fairness, these numbers will vary by demographic, format, and market, but not significantly.

What about movies? Due to streaming, Covid, and other factors, the theater audience shank by half in the last four years. The top streaming movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once drew approximately 6 million viewers.

Most major TV network shows have less than a 10 share — meaning less than 10 percent of the people who happen to have the TV on at that time. That is a small minority of your audience. Streaming shows are usually even smaller.

Action Steps

• On your radio show or podcast, know that the majority of your audience has not seen any show or movie you talk about. To provide context for the majority of your audience, set up the segment with a one or two sentence premise and include audio clips during the discussion.
• It's not interesting to talk about statistics like how much money a movie grossed. Instead, zero in on a scene with a relatable scenario, dilemma, or conflict that transcends the movie.
• When you discuss an awards show like the Oscars coming up, focus on stories. What happened during the show that got the biggest response from the audience? Since Will Smith won’t be there, maybe Jimmy Kimmel will tackle Matt Damon before he reaches the stage!