Hasta La Creative!

The boom in scripted summer programming has been met with increasingly diminished returns, as broadcast and top-tier cable nets are struggling to land a hot-weather hit.

Since late May, when the 2014-15 broadcast campaign gave way to the summer season, targeted C3 ratings across network TV and ad-supported cable have plummeted 14% versus the year-ago period. And while reality shows aren’t wholly exempt, the dwindling GRPs largely are a function of viewers’ seeming indifference to this year’s crop of new and returning scripted series.

Through Thursday, July 2, only one scripted show (ABC’s “The Whispers”) has premiered to so much as a 1.5 rating among adults 18 to 49, which, despite an ever-greying broadcast audience, remains the demo of choice for most advertisers. Per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, the average rating for the 13 scripted shows that have rolled out this summer is now a lowly 0.8.

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