A&E’s Primetime Viewership Has Halved Since ‘Live PD’ Cancellation
Primetime viewership for A&E Network has halved since the cable channel canceled “Live PD” last month, bowing to pressure from groups who said the show glorified police. The scrapping of “Live PD” came days after Paramount Network axed “Cops,” a cancellation that itself came days after George Floyd was killed by then-Minneapolis police office Derek Chauvin. A&E canceled “Live PD” on June 10. From June 11 through July 19, a time period first looked into and reported on by the Wall Street Journal, A&E’s primetime viewership averaged 498,000 audience members, according to Nielsen. That was down a whopping 49% from the same weeks last year. “When you take one of the top series in cable off the network in the middle of a pandemic and only air mostly non-premiere programming, you’re obviously going to take a temporary hit in the ratings. It’s to be expected, but what has always set A&E apart is the brand’s ability to find new hits and reinvent ourselves,” an A&E spokesperson said in a statement to TheWrap. “We always maintain a robust pipeline, and will begin airing new premieres in August, including the upcoming new series ‘What’s it Worth?’ with Jeff Foxworthy and ‘Extreme Unboxing.’...
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