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'Lost' finale ratings strong, not overwhelming
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The series finale of "Lost" drew the show's best ratings in more than two years, but it didn't draw in a ton of viewers who weren't already watching.The heavily serialized nature of "Lost" probably kept away a fair number of people who had dropped out earlier in the show's run or hadn't seen the show before. (And although the finale focused most heavily on characters who had been with the show from early on, it still would have produced some head-scratchers for casual fans.)
The 2 1/2-hour finale drew "Lost's" biggest audience since early in Season 4, averaging 13.5 million viewers and a 5.8 rating among adults 18-49 in the overnight ratings (its numbers will probably grow some when seven-day DVR numbers are figured in). It was also the show's highest-rated season finale since the Season 3 ender in 2007.
By all measures "Lost" was Sunday's (May 23) highest-rated show, but it didn't draw a great deal more viewers than it normally does. For the season "Lost" is averaging 11.55 million viewers per episode (including seven-day DVR viewing) and a 5.1 in the 18-49 demographic, so the finale provided about a 15 percent bump in total viewers over a typical episode and a 12 percent improvement in the demo.
In contrast, the "ER" finale last year (16.4 million viewers) improved by more than 40 percent over its prior season average of a little over 10 million viewers. It had been on the air for 15 years, however, and was less difficult for former viewers to pick up for the last episode.
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Why would you watch it if you hadn't been following all along? I wouldn't have expected huge numbers since only loyal viewers would really get it anyway.
Even then, I question some of the comments I've seen online today!
those people missed out...greatest show ever
Well, while I can take these overnight numbers(13.5 million viewers)for what they say, they don't reflect the fact that us viewers in Cleveland experienced technical difficulties during most of the finale and didn't get to see it with the rest of the nation. Thankfully, our local ABC station is repeating it this weekend. Do we get counted then? Just wait for the total numbers to come in. Anyway, 13.5 million viewers isn't bad for a show that's been on for 6 years.
some people werent able to watch since their service provider had some kind of outage for 4 hours 7-11...so a lot of ppl missed out...i had to watch online today to see its entirety ( the last epi)...i am so going to miss this show...i still want to watch more i didnt care what it showed i feel in love with the characters and the situations they faced and the whole show itself felt like family...
I was very disappointed by the finale. The entire first 2 hours were brilliant but the last 10 minutes ruined the entire season for me. I cried and was mad at the same time. Who lets everyone die for the series finale? I wish I had never started watching lost knowing how it ended.
Joy you're ridiculous
Does the rating take into account that more people are watching the finale in one setting together than usual?
Joy, they didnt die in the finale, they all died at different times. The finale just showed them all in "purgatory" together
I wonder if the ratings take into account the number of people who were watching in groups. I know quite a few people were having parties for the finale.
"Lost" has been averaging 9.5 to 10 million viewers in the overnights all season long, so an overnight number of 13.5 million viewers is actually a 35% to 42% increase. Don't mix overnights with 7 day DVR numbers-it's bad statistics!