"Stories from the past to help you make sense of the present."
In its nature, The History Channel appeals to a niche audience: those who enjoy learning about or watching content related to historical concepts. However, since its beginning in the late 90s, The History Channel has evolved its content to expand what the term “history” covers and, as a result, it pulls inconsistent, relatively high ratings when compared to the hundreds of other cable networks. (1) From historically accurate documentaries to historical fiction series to reality focused dramas, The History Channel expands its niche audience of history lovers into even smaller niche categories. It “proves the potential for stretching a niche audience” (2) without having to sacrifice viewership or rating.
Generally speaking, The History Channel focuses its audience demographics to individuals in the 18-49 age range. More specifically, their projected audience is one that is within that age range and generally male. A typical audience member would be an adult male in his mid-30s who is interested in general history; he works during the day but is home to watch the television before primetime shows air. Looking at the data for the channel’s ratings, they rank higher by 503 million in primetime than they do when compared to a 24 hour ranking.(1) This means that a heavy portion of the channel’s main audience comes from those who are watching during primetime. Yet, all being said, The History Channel consistently ranks in the top fifteen in both primetime and 24-hour rankings throughout the past decade. In 2018 specifically, The History Channel ranked eighth in primetime rankings and eleventh in 24-hour rankings. (1)
Though it has varied through the years the type of content that plays during primetime, in 2013 The History Channel created its first original series. This series, Vikings, was notably successful in its beginning with the first season reaching an average viewership of 4.36 million viewers and an average rating of 1.4. (3) Since then, ratings for the show have dropped significantly throughout its five-season run dropping down to an average viewership of 1.904 million viewers and an average rating of .46. (4) Objectively speaking, however, those viewership numbers and ratings are not unimpressive. In fact, Vikings remained to be one of the most popular shows The History Channel offered often battling with the channel’s reality shows such as American Pickers and Ice Road Truckers. (5)
Since the creation of Vikings, The History Channel has released several additional original series including the extremely popular Project Blue Book. Project Blue Book “is based on the true, top-secret investigations into Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and related phenomena conducted by the United States Air Force from 1952 to 1969.” (6) Its first season brought in an average viewership of 1.667 million and an average rating of .31, (7) continuing the trend for original content’s popularity on The History Channel. Both Project Blue Book and Vikings are returning to The History Channel later this year for their second and sixth seasons.
Over the years, The History Channel has evolved to incorporate a broader array of topics. Its original content focused on documentaries mainly about World War II and Nostradamus. For this reason, it was nicknamed “The Hitler Channel” and, in response, programming shifted to include more historical topics and reality series, (8) and as a result, its audience expanded to include those with specific interests. Being a flagship channel, it was the first of its kind; this gave the channel the freedom to decide what kind of “history” they wanted to include in its content. Though The History Channel has received quite a bit of criticism for deciding to include reality-based television shows such as American Pickers, Pawn Stars, and Ice Road Truckers, those shows remain popular in both their original airing and in syndication. (9) Its rating numbers prove that by further expanding their already niche audience, they have garnered something that can only be reached by The History Channel itself. Its unique set of shows reaches their specific audience members in a way that continues to prove successful. Whether a person is interested in theories about aliens, how the United States was founded, or what possibly valuable junk is in the back of someone’s garage, The History Channel has a show to offer.
Bibliography
1) Maglio, Tony. “109 Cable Channels Ranked by 2018 Viewership, From Fox News to Comedy.TV.” TheWrap, The Wrap, 11 Dec. 2018, https://www.thewrap.com/cable-channels-ranked-2018-viewers-fox-news/.
2) Lockwood, Brad. “High Ratings Aside, Where's the History on History?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 17 July 2012, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradlockwood/2011/10/17/high-ratings-aside-wheres-the-history-on-history/#595934376ff0.
3) “Vikings on History: Latest Ratings.” canceled renewed TV shows - TV Series Finale. TV Series Finale, January 19, 2017. https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/vikings-season-one-ratings-27267/.
4) “Vikings TV Show on History: Ratings (Cancel or Season 6?).” canceled renewed TV shows - TV Series Finale. TV Series Finale, January 31, 2019. https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/vikings-season-five-ratings/.
5) “Cable Ratings: Lifetime Gets Younger, E! and History Hot, Hallmark and CNN Not.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Accessed September 11, 2019. https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/03/cable-ratings-e-and-history-hot-hallmark-and-cnn-not-lifetime-getting-younger.html.
6) “About Project Blue Book.” History.com. A&E Television Networks. Accessed September 11, 2019. https://www.history.com/shows/project-blue-book/about.
7) “Project Blue Book TV Show on History: Ratings (Cancel or Season 2?).” canceled renewed TV shows - TV Series Finale. TV Series Finale, March 13, 2019. https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/project-blue-book-season-one-ratings/.
8) “History (American TV Channel).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, September 4, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_(American_TV_channel).
9) “American Pickers.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, September 7, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pickers.
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