Premiering the first episode of “Ash vs. Evil Dead” on Starz on Halloween was a risky move. Sure, debuting the TV series that follows The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness on horror’s greatest day of the year is an excellent tie-in, but that also means most of the core demographic was out trick or treating, partying, raising Hell or just enjoying other classic titles at home. Regardless, the numbers are in and here’s how “Ash vs. Evil Dead” performed with its first episode.
Originally, Starz premiered episode one, “El Jefe,” at midnight on Halloween, where it was watched by only 233,000 viewers. The network then re-aired the episode at its normal time on the same day, where it was watched by 437,000 viewers. That number may see a little low, but Starz is mostly used as a channel that broadcasts popular motion-pictures of the past few years and is available in only 29,300,000 homes – which is actually about half the audience that other major networks reach.
So, let me show you how it stacked against other original, scripted television shows on the network, both home-grown and imported.
“Black Sails” completed season one and two with the same level of viewers, often bouncing between 660,000 and 860,000. “Blunt Talk” debuted to 456,000 viewers, but dropped down to 161,000 by the time it ended its first season last month. “Da Vinci’s Demons” was a hit for the network, with its first episode reaching 1,010,000 viewers, but it died down to about 400,000 for season two and went lower to 200,000 for season three. “The Missing” started off low with 268,000 in season one and dipped lower to 100,000 by the end of season two. “Outlander” started season one with 720,000 but was up to 1,300,000 by the end of the season in May. “Power” performed much in the same way, premiering to 462,000 viewers but being into the 1,000,000’s by the end of season two. Finally, “Survivor’s Remorse” started off with 203,000 viewers and managed to rise into the 300,000’s for season two.
Putting the shows in order of premiere numbers…
Da Vinci’s Demons: 1,010,000
Outlander: 720,000
Black Sails: 660,000
Power: 462,000
Blunt Talk: 456,000
Ash vs. Evil Dead: 437,000
The Missing – 268,000
Survivor’s Remorse: 203,000
What does this all mean? “Ash vs. Evil Dead” performed moderately well by the network’s standards. Had it debuted on a different day, I actually think the numbers could have been a little higher, making it one of the top four debuts on the network. This also means that Starz will definitely air all ten episodes of season one, but there’s going to need to be some stability if we want the season two renewal to hold. Luckily, “Ash vs. Evil Dead” was probably DVR’ed like crazy, has received nothing but positive reviews, and is already available for streaming; so those outlets are going to help keep this baby afloat.
Here’s hoping for stability when “Ash vs. Evil Dead” returns for its second episode on November 7, 2015.
