A&E’s viewership has tanked 49 percent after the network canceled the popular show Live PD on June 10, in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Average prime-time viewership between June 11 and July 19 was 498,000 people, which is down 49 percent from the same time period last year,” according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
“This is a critical time in our nation’s history and we have made the decision to cease production on ‘Live PD,'” said A&E at the time of canceling the show. “Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil-rights leaders as well as police departments.”
Live PD — a show that follows police officers as they do their jobs across the country — had averaged around 1.9 million viewers for its Friday and Saturday night episodes. The program has also spawned multiple successful spinoffs, Live PD: Police Patrol and Live PD Presents: PD Cam, which have also been reportedly canceled.
A&E told The Wall Street Journal that their ratings drop is just “temporary,” adding that the network has always been able to “find new hits and reinvent ourselves.”
“We are continuing to listen to both community leaders and ‘Live PD’ fans to find a way to serve both moving forward,” said A&E.
The show’s host, veteran journalist Dan Abrams said the show’s cancelation was devastating news. “Shocked & beyond disappointed about this. To the loyal #LivePDNation please know I, we, did everything we could to fight for you, and for our continuing effort at transparency in policing,” Abrams said in June. “I was convinced the show would go on. More to come.”
Last month, ViacomCBS’s Paramount Network canceled the long running show Cops, which had around 500,000 viewers per episode.
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