Unfortunately, the season premiere of Oxygen’s The Glee Project – a singing competition where one winner will receive a roll on FOX’s hit show – received very poor ratings during its Sunday night debut.
The exact numbers?
From The Hollywood Reporter:
The premiere of Oxygen’s The Glee Project drew just 455,000 viewers Sunday night at 9 p.m. with only 211,000 in the 18-49 demographic. Even worse, among Oxygen’s core demographic of women 18-34, only 80,000 watched. Granted the show faced the final game of a riveting NBA championship as well as the Tony Awards. But a combined total (for the premiere and the encore) of 792,000 viewers is nevertheless a head scratcher for Oxygen executives.
The Glee Project was supposed to open big, coming with a built-in fan base that devours everything Glee-related, from music downloads, to concert tickets, to blog posts about the character’s summer vacation plans. Oxygen spent millions promoting The Glee Project. The show received overwhelmingly positive reviews and social media tracker Tumblrr ranked The Glee Project the No. 4 cable TV show on Sunday. Digital traffic was healthy; a music video of the cast performing Katy Perry’s “Firework” generated half-a-million views on YouTube.
But Oxygen isn’t giving up hope just yet:
Jason Klarman, president of Oxygen Media, sent his staff a memo to buck them up and to reiterate the network’s commitment to growing the show.
“We couldn’t be more proud of this critically acclaimed, first of its kind series that I – and this company – believe in 200 percent,” wrote Klarman. “From development and production to the marketing and digital initiatives to the spectacular press — your work was flawless. And the critics agree unanimously using adjectives like ‘Mesmerizing,’ ‘Captivating,’ and lauding it as the ‘Best Talent Competition Show Ever. Period.’ Which is why, the 719,000 total viewers for the 9 and 10pm premiere and encore presentation was not the start that we had hoped for.”
Have you watched the show? Let us know whether you do or don’t, and why!