Final ratings ranking for Summer 2012

With the conclusion of all Summer 2012 dramas, here is the final standing:

1) GTO - 13.13% (FujiTV)
2) Iryu Sousa - 12.44% (TV Asahi)
3) Rich Man, Poor Woman - 12.36% (FujiTV)
4) Keishichou Sousa Ikka 9 Kakari - 11.79% (TV Asahi)
5) Ghost Mama Sousasen - 10.72% (NTV)
6) Tokkan - 10.43% (NTV)
7) Kyoto Chiken no Onna - 10.31% (TV Asahi)
8) Beautiful Rain - 10.01% (FujITV)

9) Summer Rescue - 9.92% (TBS)
10) Kuro no Onna Kyoushi - 9.86% (TBS)
11) Iki mo dekinai natsu - 9.73% (FujiTV)
12) Higashino Keigo Mysteries - 8.35% (FujiTV)
13) Beginners - 7.27% (TBS)
14) Boys On The Run - 5.83% (TV Asahi)
15) Naniwa Shounen Tanteidan - 5.61% (TBS)
16) Omo ni naitemasu - 5.25% (FujiTV)
17) VISION - 3.13% (NTV)
18) Sprout - 2.66% (NTV)
19) Soumatou Kabushikigaisha - 2.29% (TBS)


FujiTV has won the No.1 title again this season following Kagi no Kakatta Heya's success last season. However, when you take a closer look at the ranking, all is not well because although FujiTV did have dramas which did well but they also had dramas which were struggling below the 10% mark i.e. Iki mo dekinai natsu and Higashino Keigo Mysteries. Especially for the latter, it was expected to do relatively well with its strong cast line-up and supposedly sound stories from the highly popular novels but the execution and presentation of the story have been issues raised by viewers who did not like what they see. On the other hand, TV Asahi may not have grabbed the top spot but 3 out of its 4 summer offerings made it to the top 10 and scored an average rating of above 10%. That's pretty impressive considering the lacklustre ratings this season. NTV is in a pretty similar situation as FujiTV with some dramas doing relatively OK while some of its dramas were stuck in the bottom of the pack. However, I think the situation is not as bad as FujiTV's because VISION and Sprout are not primetime dramas so it's normal that they are getting single-digit ratings.

For TBS, the results they got this season is far from being satisfactory. ATARU got them the 2nd spot last season but there wasn't such a high-performing dramas this time. In fact, none of its dramas got past the 10% average mark which is rather surprising. Soumatou may have gotten the last spot but it's also not a primetime drama so it is more or less expected.

With the new season coming up in two weeks, this will hopefully bring about more dramas doing better than their summer counterparts. In the past, it used to be that dramas getting over 20% or 30% would only be considered as hits but nowadays, the benchmark has fallen so much that dramas which get about 15% are hits and those which get above 10% can thank their lucky stars for scrapping through. Ever since Kaseifu no Mita became a mega hit, there hasn't been any drama which can match up to those figures. I won't expect that there will be another drama that will get ratings as high as Mita but it would be nice to see another drama going above the 20% mark.