View Full Version : What is a “hit”?


Cbalducc
10-23-2020, 12:58 PM
A show that consistently finishes in Top 10? Top 25? Top 30?

LUNCH
10-23-2020, 01:12 PM
It used to be decades ago a show in the top 25 show meant you had a hit. Even the top 30. A program in the top 10 meant you had a very big hit show. These days it has become meaningless because even so called hit shows nowadays get very low amounts of viewers compared to how it used to be.

RetroGuy2000
10-23-2020, 01:23 PM
I second what Lunch said.

In retrospect, I think the change began to happen in the 1990s, when shows on The WB, UPN, and Fox began to be called "hits", even though they weren't in the top 30 (or in the case of The WB and UPN, not even in the top 60). These shows were clearly the most popular shows on those networks, but they didn't have the viewership of the Big Three.

Now, with so many streaming services, as well as cable and satellite options, viewing shares have been vastly diluted, and a "hit" now seems to be defined as anything that lasts a few seasons.