Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
More On:
House of Cards
-
Kevin Spacey Cries During Uncomfortable Piers Morgan Interview As He Admits To "Pushing The Boundaries" And "Being Too Handsy"
-
Stream It Or Skip It: 'Uncle Samsik' On Hulu, Where A Corrupt Fixer And An Idealistic Young Politician Team Up In Postwar South Korea
-
'Spacey Unmasked' Reveals Kevin Spacey Allegedly Masturbated During 'Saving Private Ryan's Normandy Beach Invasion Scene
-
Kevin Spacey Ordered to Pay $31 Million to ‘House of Cards’ Makers
House of Cards has been a ratings juggernaut since it first debuted on Netflix in 2013, but how did the drama fare in its first season without Kevin Spacey — and its final season overall? According to new ratings data from Nielsen, not as well. The House of Cards Season 6 premiere, which hit Netflix on November 2, brought in about 1.5 million fewer American viewers than the Season 5 premiere in 2017, which seems to suggest that viewers weren’t interested in checking out a Claire Underwood-focused season. However, the shift towards Robin Wright‘s character did appeal to female viewers, who made up 54% of the audience and pivoted House of Cards‘ demographics from majority male-skewing in Season 5 to majority female-skewing in Season 6.
Nielsen estimates that 2.9 million people in the U.S. watched the House of Cards Season 6 premiere in the first seven days of its availability, down 1.5 million people from Season 5 (4.4 million Americans watched the first episode of Season 5 in the week after its premiere). There’s no denying that this is a big dip, but all hope is not lost: the final season makes up some of its viewers in the overall numbers. Within the first seven days of its availability, the eight episodes in Season 6 received an average minute audience of 1.5 million U.S. viewers, while the 13 episodes in Season 5 received an average of 1.9 million viewers.
Plus, it seems that female viewers are flocking to House of Cards like never before. Nielsen estimates that 56% of the overall Season 5 audience was male, but in Season 6, the majority flipped in favor of female viewers (54% overall). Is it possible that women were more inclined to tune in now that Spacey is gone? Maybe they just wanted to see a fellow woman in the white house?
In addition to growing its female fan base, House of Cards Season 6 balanced out its age demographics. Season 5’s viewers were predominantly in the 18-34 (35%) and 35-49 demos (33%), but fans of the final season are spread fairly evenly among all age groups. 22% of Season 6 viewers are 18-34, 27% are 35-49, 27% are 50-64, and 21% are 65+. It looks like there’s one thing that unites us all, regardless of age: we all want to know how Frank Underwood died.
