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Post by Sexual Chocolate on Jan 4, 2017 23:35:16 GMT -5
From Fox Business. (I realize a similar article has been posted but I'm not stock savvy and this one makes a little more sense to my ignorant brain. ) Why Shares of AMC Networks, Inc. Fell 30% in 2016 What happenedShares of AMC Networks (NASDAQ: AMCX) fell 29.9% in 2016, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window. . Last year was a drastic reversal from 2015, when AMC investors enjoyed a 16% positive return instead. So whatAMC's road up the stock charts was built out of zombies. The Walking Dead has been dominating the cable-viewership charts for most of its seven seasons, and is often cited by AMC executives as a key driver of both advertising and licensing revenues.
But after the seventh-season premiere pulled in 17 million same-day viewers thanks to a tense cliffhanger, the show quickly started losing eyeballs. The mid-season finale notched just 10.6 million same-day viewers, which works out to a 38% smaller audience. To put that trend into context, the season 6 premiere of The Walking Dead saw 14.6 million viewers while 14 million tuned in to the mid-season crescendo. That was just a 4% viewership drop, while the latest numbers are also down year over year.That's not good news for AMC's ad sales team, and the lifeless audience response to recent showings of AMC's biggest hit is infecting the entire company. Yes, The Walking Dead is still very successful, and most showrunners would kill for audience ratings anywhere near this series's most bloodless weeks. But negative trends are negative trends, and AMC's overall operations lean on The Walking Dead and its various spinoff titles in a big way. In particular, analysts believe that AMC needs hits on the level of a healthy The Walking Dead in order to stave off challenges from nontraditional media channels. Without that big-ticket support, AMC's stock loses investor appeal very quickly. Now whatOn the upside, AMC shares are trading at just 9.1 times forward earnings. Another megahit, or just a second wind in the desiccated lungs of The Walking Dead, would quickly build value for buyers at this low valuation ratio. Meanwhile, AMC's formerly rapid sales and earnings growth has slowed down dramatically in recent quarters. The company could sure use a fresh taste of success. The upcoming fourth-quarter report will probably not deliver that kind of uplifting news, but The Walking Dead is coming back in February. Keep a close eye on the viewership ratings in the second half of the seventh season. That's the key to AMC's financial future.
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Post by v on Jan 4, 2017 23:45:15 GMT -5
I've had a few people argue with me that the drop in ratings aren't the heart of AMC's problem but when they market the station ( on the bundling of their other channels) on the back of TWD the loss of viewers is a huge problem. as they pointed out, even in season 6 the ratings only dropped 4% between 6.1 and 6.8 where this season they lost 38%. that is a huge drop.
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Post by Sexual Chocolate on Jan 5, 2017 0:16:07 GMT -5
I've had a few people argue with me that the drop in ratings aren't the heart of AMC's problem but when they market the station ( on the bundling of their other channels) on the back of TWD the loss of viewers is a huge problem. as they pointed out, even in season 6 the ratings only dropped 4% between 6.1 and 6.8 where this season they lost 38%. that is a huge drop. It's weird to me that people argue this, and I've seen many try to do it. Is TWD the most popular show on television? Absolutely. Are they killing it in the key demographic 18-49? Without question. That said, AMC has to be at least a little concerned with the ratings drop because it affects the company's bottom line. Gimple during 7B.
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Post by v on Jan 5, 2017 0:19:50 GMT -5
I've had a few people argue with me that the drop in ratings aren't the heart of AMC's problem but when they market the station ( on the bundling of their other channels) on the back of TWD the loss of viewers is a huge problem. as they pointed out, even in season 6 the ratings only dropped 4% between 6.1 and 6.8 where this season they lost 38%. that is a huge drop. It's weird to me that people argue this, and I've seen many try to do it. Is TWD the most popular show on television? Absolutely. Are they killing it in the key demographic 18-49? Without question. That said, AMC has to be at least a little concerned with the ratings drop because it affects the company's bottom line. Gimple during 7B. honestly this show is pretty much tailor made for the key demo. if they weren't tearing it up in that bracket I would have been shocked, but they are losing some of that demo and that hurts. IDK how much amc and tptb are paying attention to the critics and the ratings/ share price drop but the stock holders are. makes me wonder if anything will change or if they will continue to bury their heads in the sand
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Post by Sexual Chocolate on Jan 5, 2017 0:27:47 GMT -5
v They're definitely paying attention to the ratings, and the money guys will make them pay attention to the drop in price of shares. Now whether or not they're paying any attention to critics is what I'm not sure about.
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Post by v on Jan 5, 2017 0:31:06 GMT -5
v They're definitely paying attention to the ratings, and the money guys will make them pay attention to the drop in price of shares. Now whether or not they're paying any attention to critics is what I'm not sure about.
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Post by Ripley on Jan 5, 2017 1:07:01 GMT -5
Thanks Sexual Chocolate for sharing this article, which explains well all the issues and reasons why AMC is on shaky ground current with the season 7 ratings drop. I don't think they are paying attention to the critics at all. Remember how Scott Gimple trashed the critics by saying it was only the journalists who had negative feedback from Dumpstergate? THR: "... Were you surprised by the reaction to Glenn's dumpster scene?
Gimple: I wasn't entirely surprised. It was exciting to see the audience so keyed into it that it really became a big thing to people. The responses I got direct from fans seemed to be all very positive. But from a journalistic aspect, there was a disconnect ... the two reactions I was getting were very different... "... Many critics, including THR's, said that the show has lost credibility by doing this with Glenn … Gimple: I saw a lot of line for line repeat sentences between a lot of these people. On that side, people said things like that, but that wasn't the message I was getting from the fans at all. From the comments on those very sites, I don't think the majority of people who watch the show were feeling that way. ... Glenn's near death experience has jeopardized the show's credibility and made many of the series' stars untouchable when it comes to character deaths. Can the second half change that?Gimple: It's hard for me to answer that question directly in as much as I don't agree with the credibility thing. That's a very interesting way to look at it — that people are telling the audience how to watch the show and what to believe. We've had instances of people in a very emotional state — Tyreese jumping into the middle of a large herd and fighting his way out; a man cut off his own hand and fights his way through a department store full of walkers. These things are part of the world. Glenn had the bad luck of being knocked off that dumpster by Nicholas, ending his own life but [Glenn] had the good luck of Nicholas landing on him. There's a lot of very specific facts about it that I think a lot of people have sort of gotten wrong. But breaking it down shot for shot … I think we're past that point. I don't think this is any sort of new instance that broke the rules of our show at all. I think it's very much in line with everything we've done before. I don't think there's a credibility issue. It seems like there's this growing sort of divide between the people who watch the show and the people who write about the show. There's not a wrong way to watch it; nobody is doing anything wrong. I'm getting a lot different messages that are diametrically opposed"
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walking-dead-boss-defends-glenn-844221
I believe Gimple and some of TTB still have that attitude and while I thinki anxiety is leaving it's stench all over AMC offices in the U.S., some are simply sprayig AXE cologne on themselves and ignoring it. While possibly updating resumes.
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Post by v on Jan 5, 2017 1:12:38 GMT -5
Thanks Sexual Chocolate for sharing this article, which explains well all the issues and reasons why AMC is on shaky ground current with the season 7 ratings drop. I don't think they are paying attention to the critics at all. Remember how Scott Gimple trashed the critics by saying it was only the journalists who had negative feedback from Dumpstergate? THR: "... Were you surprised by the reaction to Glenn's dumpster scene?
Gimple: I wasn't entirely surprised. It was exciting to see the audience so keyed into it that it really became a big thing to people. The responses I got direct from fans seemed to be all very positive. But from a journalistic aspect, there was a disconnect ... the two reactions I was getting were very different... "... Many critics, including THR's, said that the show has lost credibility by doing this with Glenn … Gimple: I saw a lot of line for line repeat sentences between a lot of these people. On that side, people said things like that, but that wasn't the message I was getting from the fans at all. From the comments on those very sites, I don't think the majority of people who watch the show were feeling that way. ... Glenn's near death experience has jeopardized the show's credibility and made many of the series' stars untouchable when it comes to character deaths. Can the second half change that?Gimple: It's hard for me to answer that question directly in as much as I don't agree with the credibility thing. That's a very interesting way to look at it — that people are telling the audience how to watch the show and what to believe. We've had instances of people in a very emotional state — Tyreese jumping into the middle of a large herd and fighting his way out; a man cut off his own hand and fights his way through a department store full of walkers. These things are part of the world. Glenn had the bad luck of being knocked off that dumpster by Nicholas, ending his own life but [Glenn] had the good luck of Nicholas landing on him. There's a lot of very specific facts about it that I think a lot of people have sort of gotten wrong. But breaking it down shot for shot … I think we're past that point. I don't think this is any sort of new instance that broke the rules of our show at all. I think it's very much in line with everything we've done before. I don't think there's a credibility issue. It seems like there's this growing sort of divide between the people who watch the show and the people who write about the show. There's not a wrong way to watch it; nobody is doing anything wrong. I'm getting a lot different messages that are diametrically opposed"
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walking-dead-boss-defends-glenn-844221
I believe Gimple and some of TTB still have that attitude and while I thinki anxiety is leaving it's stench all over AMC offices in the U.S., some are simply sprayig AXE cologne on themselves and ignoring it. While possibly updating resumes. nothing worse than someone that uses Axe to cover b.o.
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Post by Ripley on Jan 5, 2017 1:21:16 GMT -5
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Post by v on Jan 5, 2017 2:06:13 GMT -5
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Post by MorganBGone on Jan 5, 2017 4:41:15 GMT -5
SG was certainly deluding himself or trying to salvage opinion around dumpstergate (his tight leash TTD appearance with SY arguably points to a recognition that there could be an issue). The points of comparison, Merle and Tyreese, are just silly -- apples to oranges, given that we saw Tyreese survive and were given evidence that Merle did, too -- and surely Gimple has enough intellect to realize that. The problem with him is that he does, IMO, recognize negative audience reaction (and attempt to pretend it doesn't exist for PR purposes) but then falls back on "it'll all be recognized as brilliant later"... which it generally isn't. His hubris, and the attached hubris of tptb, is a major problem. The small ratings slide in 6 should have pointed to the need to fix those elements that were consistently drawing negative responses from audience and critics alike, but *viewers* reacting negatively were instead given the message that they'd retrospectively recognize the brilliance, which is an asinine way to write a show or respond to negative *viewer* feedback.
As for the current ratings, I'm sure investors haven't failed to notice, any more than we have, that a single half season has plummeted ratings back to season 3a levels. So yeah, they're still great overall, but could 2b be next to follow? The tone might be very very different (thanks, SG, for indirectly acknowledging that you *finally* get that you've screwed up), but 7b, filming already in the bag, has some major pitfalls ahead, including episode mistakes that are just more of the same (if there's Dwight redemption... how many are going to be watching their least favourite form of episode to see it?), and legitimate competition in terms of total numbers (the surprising gains in NCIS:LA's ratings despite its being in its 8th season) and potential demo draws (hello Grammys and A listers on HBO, now starring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Zoey Kravitz, Shaylene Woodley and so on for 7/8 weeks of TWD's 7b run). Sure, there's no football, but no longer must see TV is no longer must see TV; an audience tuning in out of boredom with other options will stop turning in if they see more of the same... which, "tone" aside, they will.
The show needs to fix its current major problems for season 8 while hoping desperately that more audience doesn't tune out in the interim, and the comic's likely contributions for 8a will, I think, help provided Gimple sticks with the comic's structure instead of dividing up the group yet again and, in so doing, providing even more standalonesm. But then, if he doesn't -- God forbid -- drag Negan and his incessant talking out to contaminate an entire season, divided the group will once again be... bringing the show straight back to its ongoing structural problem, especially if Gimple still can't figure out how to include multiple stories in a single episode.
I do think AMC, owing to it a financial losses, will intervene (though they're out to a bang up start with the latest 7b promotion), but will they do so in the right way? They could still even chop any potential overly long, filler-laden episodes down to size through the editing department, but will they? Or, will they focus on a single episode bottom line (longer running time = more commercials) when those episodes themselves could knock off viewers for the episodes to follow? it's hard to know if AMC will get things right because they haven't so far.
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Post by finalgirl on Jan 5, 2017 4:51:41 GMT -5
1. They shouldn't have killed Glenn. 2. Shouldn't have 'over-killed' Glenn. 3. Not everyone is in their key demographic. These days seniors are a huge growing TV audience and I've seen enough submit to TTD to make me wonder if they even keep track of anything/anyone beyond their old school ratings systems. Along with all the number of viewers watching online/in other formats. More than that, even those in their key demographics don't all like the same arcs, characters, etc. An 18 year old boy and 49 year old housewife may not be watching for the same reasons or like the same things. They also look obsessively more to the comic, yet much of their audience has never been composed of comic fans.
Those mainstream audience numbers are largely TV (only) viewers. The majority of people I see post on mainstream sites (not fandoms or forums) like FB, entertainment shows (ET) or magazines online (EW), etc, have never read the comic and many tend to resent its current influence in the show, if their comments are to be considered. Even many comic fans I see post, will say they'd prefer to be surprised, or if the show went more in its own direction than its tending to do. Unless they start understanding their audience breakdown better and respecting it, and their interests, the numbers will keep nosediving. I think 7B will have to offer something meaningful regarding Carol & Daryl, for example, for these very reasons, as we know this is a huge demographic. It's also hopeful. It should be a show about survival...not how many cast members can we keep killing 'cause otherwise some fanboys will get bored.
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