Fox’s ‘24: Live Another Day’ set to surpass series finale from 2010

It’s been 13 years since Fox first aired “24” but ratings for the show “24: Live Another Day” suggest Jack Bauer’s still got it.

According to Live-plus-7 ratings, which includes viewership on non-linear platforms Video On Demand, Hulu and FOX Now, the show’s finale, which aired on July 14, is on its way to surpassing its 2010 series finale.

Viewership of the Fox drama grew 45%, from 6.5 million to 9.4 million viewers. Fox projects the series finale will reach 10.7 million viewers -- a 12% increase in viewership from 10.4 million total viewers in 2010 -- when 30 days of multi-platform viewing is taken into account.

Will Somers, senior vice president of research at Fox Broadcasting Company, said “24” is an interesting case study for how ratings have changed.

“Here you have a show that started in 2001 when there was nothing measured other than live TV viewing,” Somers told the Los Angeles Times. “During its eight-season run, DVR was just being brought into Nielsen’s measurement. Now, the show is back in its new incarnation when there’s really a new dramatically changed environment with multi-platform viewing schedule.”

Live + Same Day numbers are useful from a directional standpoint, Somers said, but to get a full performance rating, studios need to look at content consumption across all platforms.

“The full story isn’t told, in many cases, until weeks after the show airs,” he said.

Though Somers said it is “tempting” to look at solely overnight ratings, “the challenge for all of us in the business is to wean ourselves off of that.”

“The ways in which we have the ability to watch programming seem to change every couple of months,” Somers said. “Measuring is increasingly challenging but it’s about constructing a plan that allows the measurement services to keep pace.”

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