Ratings Analysis/Graphs (December 14, 2006)

6-01 "Zod" 4.96 million viewers (down 940,000 or 15.9% from 5-01)
6-02 "Sneeze" 4.52 million viewers (down 1,320,000 or 22.6% from 5-02)
6-03 "Wither" 4.88 million viewers (down 1,040,000 or 17.6% from 5-03)
6-04 "Arrow" 4.71 million (down 1,690,000 or 26.4% from 5-04)
6-05 "Reunion" 4.79 million (down 990,000 or 17.1% from 5-05)
6-06 "Fallout" 5.01 million (down 400,000 or 7.4% from 5-06)
6-07 "Rage" 4.46 million (down 1,050,000 or 19.1% from 5-07)
6-08 "Static" 4.70 million (down 1,270,000 or 21.3% from 5-08)
6-09 "Subterranean" 4.31 million (down 1,060,000 or 19.7% from 5-09)

The two charts below illustrate Smallville's viewership for new episodes, i.e., the first network airing in the U.S. of the show's 119 episodes to date. The first chart is continuous showing all seasons in one black line, while the second is color-coded by season. The Previous Ratings Analysis and May 2006 Ratings Analysis are also available.
As of this writing, nine episodes of Smallville season 6 have aired. The average drop in viewership has been 1.08 million per episode or 18.7%. All nine episodes represented new all-time lows for a first to ninth episode of Smallville respectively. The chart at the very bottom of the page, with the lime green trendline depicting season 6, illustrates this.

The Previous Ratings Analysis, covering the first four episodes of season 6, set out the challenges that Smallville faces given its established ratings trends each season, and refuted some of the typical early "excuses" given for the record low ratings this season. For the episodes since then, the excuses still aren't there. For example, in the case of episode 6-05, the World Series competition was actually down more than five million viewers compared to last season, while CBS showed a repeat-clip show of Survivor that was down almost 2.5 million viewers from the previous week. Meanwhile NBC showed repeats of its comedies and Ugly Betty was roughly flat with its then season low viewership the previous week. Consider too that Smallville was following up on a well received episode that previous week, yet it was unable to capitalize on that at all.

Most recently, episode 6-09 hit a season low in viewership. While the time of year and a two-week hiatus are cited, it was still down more than a million from the corresponding episode last season, 5-09 "Lexmas". Also, Smallville finished in the middle of the pack among CW shows, behind America's Next Top Model, Gilmore Girls and 7th Heaven, just 70,000 ahead of One Tree Hill, and 220,000 ahead of Friday Night Smackdown. And so even the conventional wisdom that Smallville should get its season 7 renewal because of The CW's woes this season may not prove true. Smallville is an aging and expensive show that's seeing record viewership lows episode after episode this season, and its pattern especially in recent seasons has been one of significant decline in the second half.

AMW (KalElFan)