Ratings Catastrophe: Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Who Is America’ Attracts 327K Viewers

Tsing Tao

Tsing Tao

Ratings Catastrophe: Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘Who Is America’ Attracts 327K Viewers
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Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images for AFI
17 Jul 20182,351
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America? tanked in the ratings on Showtime Sunday night, attracting only 327,000 viewers, which landed it in 70th place for the day.

With all that free hype, the flood of free publicity generated by the feckless controversy surrounding Hollywood once again — yawn — targeting people on the right for ridicule, this is a humiliating crash landing for Cohen, a left-wing performer who has not produced a success in over a decade.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, a far-left entertainment outlet, Who Is America?fell way below a similarly-hyped Showtime offering, 2017’s reboot of Twin Peaks, which attracted 506,000 viewers for its premiere.

Roger Friedman reports that at 10 p.m., Cohen was “trounced” by a show called Mexico Life “that did five or six times the business. (1.9 million viewers). Something called On the Case with PZ on Discovery had 1.5 million.”

Cohen even lost to CNN, which has been cratering in the ratings. The far-left anti-Trump channel doubled Cohen with 764,000 viewers.

Cohen’s schtick is tired and a bit pathetic. What’s more it’s soooo 2007. And in this entertainment era where every comedian, every late-night show, every Netflix special, and every news outlet has been weaponized to insult and denigrate Trump and his supporters, Cohen just adds to the noise.

Moreover, most of those other anti-Trump programs are not doing so well in the ratings. Stephen Colbert’s Our Cartoon President, which aired on Showtime immediately after Cohen, only attracted 186,000 viewers.

Cohen Baron Cohen is offering nothing new; just preaching to the choir with the help of selective editing. Why Showtime or Cohen believed the American people would be interested in just another corporate-backed bully plucking the wings off of powerless flies to the delight of his rich and powerful provincial pals, is beyond me.

Judging by the reviews and the reaction, even from Cohen’s left-wing confederates, the ratings are going to look a whole lot worse as the series plays itself out.
 
They blamed Sarah Palin. Seriously. Usually it's some antifa punk whining that the MAGA they were beating with steel pipes had the audacity to fight back and hurt him.

Tell this Brit asshole Cohen to crawl back under his rock.
 
"That said, the actual audience for the debut of America is already much larger. Including four reruns of the premiere on Sunday night and early Monday morning, the Nielsen tally has already jumped to 702,000 viewers; throw in the 301,000 viewers Showtime says streamed the series, and the number edges just past 1 million.

Once delayed viewing kicks in over the next few weeks, it wouldn’t be surprising if America — like many premium cable shows these days — ends up quintupling its premiere-night ratings to score an actual audience of 2 or 3 million viewers.

Showtime also notes that a ten-minute preview of the series has tallied 10 million views on YouTube since Sunday and that Baron Cohen’s controversy-courting comedy contributed to the biggest day of sign-ups for the service’s streaming offering (as well as the third-biggest sign-up day since the network began offering a direct-to-consumer option)."


You old men don't understand how TV works these day.
 
Oh and BTW, the US is 4.4% of the world population, when this syndicates unlike any ordinary bla bla show, it will be UUUGGGGEEEEE.

Sasha BC is a RRRRich Man!

So please publicize it more, I am watching it now thanks to you.

Morons. hahaha.

 
An avalanche of free publicity didn’t do much to boost the linear ratings for Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Showtime series Who Is America?.Nielsen estimates the same-day linear audience for Sunday’s 10 p.m. premiere at 327,000 viewers, a little more than half the tune-in for lead-in The Affair (538,000 viewers) and well below the million-plus viewers who watch Showtime scripted hits such as Shameless and Homeland as soon as they premiere.



That said, the actual audience for the debut of America is already much larger. Including four reruns of the premiere on Sunday night and early Monday morning, the Nielsen tally has already jumped to 702,000 viewers; throw in the 301,000 viewers Showtime says streamed the series, and the number edges just past 1 million. Once delayed viewing kicks in over the next few weeks, it wouldn’t be surprising if America — like many premium cable shows these days — ends up quintupling its premiere-night ratings to score an actual audience of 2 or 3 million viewers. Showtime also notes that a ten-minute preview of the series has tallied 10 million views on YouTube since Sunday and that Baron Cohen’s controversy-courting comedycontributed to the biggest day of sign-ups for the service’s streaming offering (as well as the third-biggest sign-up day since the network began offering a direct-to-consumer option).


All of these caveats sound like spin by Showtime because, well … they are! But it’s somewhat justified spin, because in 2018, Nielsen’s linear numbers often paint an inaccurate picture of how shows actually resonate (or not) with viewers, or how valuable they are to a network (particularly ones not supported by advertising, like Showtime and HBO). Plus, with linear networks now competing against streaming outlets such as Netflix or Hulu — which can declare shows a “hit” with zero ratings evidence — it’s a bit unfair to hold old-school outlets to a higher audience-measurement standard. Showtime got a ton of unpaid advertising for its service in the run-up to America, and will get plenty more as future Baron Cohen pranks play out in coming weeks. That matters for a network that depends on subscription revenue to survive, and it’s a metric not measured by Nielsen. And yet, despite all the legitimate reasons for Showtime to minimize the early ratings for America, it’s also fair to think the network should be a bit disappointed by the show’s debut. The linear premiere number might not be the accurate picture of a show’s audience, but it does say something about how big its eventual fan base will be. America didn’t score a disastrous debut by Showtime standards, but given all the hype last week, its early ratings — along with the decidedly mixed reviews from critics — offer little evidence to suggest Showtime has found an overnight summer hit, either. Nice? Maybe. Very nice? Nope.
 
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