User blog:Ryan Stoppable/The Numbers Game - Invasion of the Ratings Snatchers

Ferb, I know what we're going to do today! We're gonna read Volume 10 of The Numbers Game, your home for U.S. Phineas and Ferb ratings news.

This week's big number is last weekend's Disney Channel US premiere of "Invasion of the Ferb Snatchers / Ain't No Kiddie Ride", and well, it's not so big after all. Thanks to @TravisYanan on Twitter, we know that the new episode received only 3.038 million viewers for its Disney Channel premiere airing on April 16. This is down 6 percent from "Undercover Carl / Hip Hip Parade", the last episode for which full ratings data is available, and down 15 percent from its Wizards of Waverly Place lead in.

Broken down, the new episode received a 1.8 (3 share) household rating (down 5%), breaking out to a 4.5 rating (16 share) in Kids (down 8%), 2.0 (8 share) in Teens (up 18%), and a 0.5 (2 share) in Adults (no change).

Unlike some weeks, it is easy to determine a reason for the low ratings this week. The two weeks prior to this episode, Disney Channel had chosen to run programs other than Phineas and Ferb in the show's stated Friday 9:00pm ET time slot. Because humans are creatures of habit, and none moreso than children, that combined with Disney's lack of promotion for the new Phineas and Ferb episode (they instead chose to focus on The Suite Life and WoWP) gave fans of our show no reason to tune in or stay tuned in at 9:00, and as a result they did not. Fortunately, they seem to have learned their lesson, as Phineas and Ferb reruns are scheduled in that time slot the next two weeks.

No further episodes have been announced, so who knows when The Numbers Game will return. (Perhaps they're saving them for the "all-summer 2010 initiative on Disney XD and Disney Channel". ("Phineas and Ferb's 104 Days of Summer Vacation"?)) But be assured that when new episodes do, I will as well. Until then, follow me on Twitter!!!, sign up for the message board, and remember...that the numbers never lie].