Ratings Review: ONCE UPON A TIME (Season Three)

ONCE UPON A TIME is not the hot series it once was. The fairytale drama is slowly drawing mediocre ratings and battling for second and even third place in it's time slot.

Each season, the numbers drift lower and lower. In the fall, seven million viewers was common. In the spring, the numbers began at that level, but by spring time, the series struggled to get six million. The disappointing part is the underwhelming collection of viewers for the season finale. A series want to crescendo at the end of the season, not fade out.

OUAT is still one of the stronger series in the LIVE+7 ratings, regularly making the week's published list, in both ratings categories. Viewership usually increases by about 40%, while the A18-49 ratings get at least a 50% increase, or more. On these ratings, we should see at least two more season of ONCE UPON A TIME.

For the season, ONCE UPON A TIME averaged 7.09 million viewers and a 2.2 rating in Adults 18-49, for the 21 airings, including the two hour season finale. Like most ABC series the lack of repeat episodes show the limitation of the series. Second airings of episodes are the cash cow of most networks.

ONCE UPON A TIME (Sundays at 8 p.m., on ABC)

Date	Viewers*	A18-49	L+3	L+7
09/29/13	8.52	2.6	10.30 (3.5)	11.06 (3.8)
10/06/13	8.00	2.6	9.90 (3.6)	(3.8)
10/13/13	7.53	2.4	9.40 (3.3)	(3.5)
10/20/13	7.05	2.1		9.60 (3.4)
10/27/13	7.23	2.2		(3.4)
11/03/13	7.55	2.3		10.25 (3.5)
11/10/13	6.71	2.1		9.39 (3.4)
11/17/13	6.66	1.9		9.25 (3.1)
11/24/13	Preempted
12/01/13	6.64	1.9		9.22 (3.2)
12/08/13	6.94	2.1		9.38 (3.3)
12/15/13	6.44	1.9		8.94 (3.1)
		Hiatus
03/09/14	7.66	2.4		(3.4)
03/16/14	7.75	2.4		10.43 (3.7)
03/23/14	6.91	2.1		9.53 (3.3)
03/30/14	6.64	2.1		9.21 (3.2)
04/06/14	7.26	2.4		9.71 (3.5)
04/13/14	6.50	2.0		9.08 (3.2)
04/20/14	5.95	1.7
04/27/14	7.34	2.2		9.43 (3.2)
05/04/14	6.86	2.1		9.19 (3.2)
05/11/14	6.80	2.3		9.19 (3.4)

* - in millions