We’re trying out a new column on the site to offer up more insight on the ratings each week. We will do our best to get you the most ratings data possible each week and help interpret that data to give the Toonami faithful a better idea of how well the block is doing. We’ll compare each week of Toonami to previous weeks, previous years and other competition including comedies on Adult Swim.

While we can’t guarantee you the whole story because we only get so much information any given week, we hope you will find this column both entertaining and informative. Feel free to ask questions in the comments and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Here are the ratings for May 4th 2013:

12:00 AM Bleach – 1.138 million viewers / HH 0.8 / 594,500 adults 18-49 (0.47)
12:30 AM Naruto – 0.977 million viewers / HH 0.7 / 506,000 adults 18-49 (0.40)
1:00 AM Soul Eater – 0.925 million viewers / HH 0.7 / 493,350 adults 18-49 (0.39)
1:30 AM Thundercats – 0.822 million viewers / HH 0.6 / 442,750 adults 18-49 (0.35)
2:00 AM I.G.P.X. – 0.776 million viewers / HH 0.6 / 392,150 adults 18-49 (0.31)
2:30 AM Eureka 7 – 0.735 million viewers / HH 0.6 / 404,800 adults 18-49 (0.32)
3:00 AM Tenchi Muyo! GXP – 0.710 million viewers / HH 0.5 / 392,150 adults 18-49 (0.31)
3:30 AM Sym-Bionic Titan – 0.659 million viewers / HH 0.5 / 392,150 adults 18-49 (0.31)
4:00 AM FMA: Brotherhood – 0.625 million viewers / HH 0.5 / 379,500 adults 18-49 (0.30)
4:30 AM Cowboy Bebop – 0.602 million viewers / HH 0.5 / 341,550 adults 18-49 (0.27)
5:00 AM InuYasha – 0.623 million viewers / HH 0.5 / 316,250 adults 18-49 (0.25)
5:30 AM InuYasha – 0.610 million viewers / HH 0.5 / 303,600 adults 18-49 (0.24)

1.0 Adults 18-49 = 1,265,000 in the 2012-2013 season

Pre-Toonami Ratings for comparison:

9:00 PM The Venture Brothers – 0.921 million viewers / HH 0.6 / 341,550 adults 18-49 (0.27)
9:30 PM Family Guy – 1.375 million viewers / HH 1.0 / 594,500 adults 18-49 (0.47)
10:00 PM Family Guy – 1.978 million viewers / HH 1.3 / 948,750 adults 18-49 (0.75)
10:30 PM Cleveland Show – 1.922 million viewers / HH 1.3 / 898,150 adults 18-49 (0.71)
11:00 PM Black Dynamite – 1.183 million viewers / HH 0.9 / 556,600 adults 18-49 (0.44)
11:30 PM The Boondocks – 1.148 million viewers / HH 0.9 / 581,900 adults 18-49 (0.46)

AmbientVirus’ Assessment:

On a per week and per slot basis it was a relatively slow burn toward the end with most shows losing a little but not much. The highest being -161k from Bleach to Naruto and -158k on Naruto from last week, the average being about 50k loss per slot and a 75k loss per week but this varied more (check the spreadsheet for full data.) Given that we kept it over 600k, it’s still very well for those time slots regardless as next “per” data is something completely different.

On a per year standpoint, the term that comes to mind would be curb-stomped. Massive increases across the board with almost everything gaining 250k (the only one NOT to get this was 5:30 am Inyuasha at 179k gain from last year) and some gaining well over 300k. Bleach is an interesting note as it pulled over 400k from last year at 726k. Keep in mind we were on Ep. 252 which was Season 13: Zanpaktuo: The Alternate Tale which is pure filler back then. It makes me wonder if people didn’t like the filler or if it was Toonami that spurred more people to watch it. Regardless, it was an incredible increase from last year.

Overall: A bit of a downer week but considering where we were last year, it’s way better than it was. Let’s keep up the averages and help keep anime where it belongs.

For those not in the know I keep a spreadsheet that holds all of the Toonami ratings and have recently started getting the Per Year and H/H data into it as well. Click here to check it out. Winner’s Circle is the most recent tab. You’ll find them at the bottom.

Sketch’s Assessment:

Sporting events, Zach Galifianakis on SNL and Iron Man 3′s opening weekend hurt Toonami a little bit but the drop-offs between shows were very small and even though 18-49 viewership started out a bit lower than previous weeks, staying above a 0.3 with that demographic until 4:30 AM is quite good.

This is a mostly helpful week to fuel the #ExpandToonami fire because Bleach bested Black Dynamite and The Boondocks in adults 18-49, only narrowly lost to The Boondocks with total viewers and Black Dynamite in total viewers.  Unfortunately, Naruto did not beat either and also suffered the largest drop in 18-49 from its’ lead among the shows on Toonami. Naruto is going to have to regularly beat at least Black Dynamite to make a better argument for expansion.

Toonami compared well to Adult Swim’s Sunday comedy block this week. While a new Bleach did not beat a new Loiter Squad which had the benefit of a 2.1 million viewer Family Guy lead-in, the new Bleach narrowly beat the half hour average for the 12:00 AM and soundly beat the 12:15 AM Superjail rerun. Naruto also beat reruns of Metalocalypse and Frisky Dingo at 12:30 AM and 12:45 AM, Soul Eater beat Frisky Dingo as well as the reruns of China, IL and Titan Maximum at 1:00 AM and 1:15 AM and ThunderCats beat Titan Maximum and barely lost to The Cleveland Show encore on Sunday at 1:30 AM. That said weekdays from 12:00 AM-6:00 AM did considerably better than Toonami, as per usual. Expansion outside of Saturday is very unlikely.

Toonami is making a habit of keeping every show above 600,000 total viewers and above 300,000 adults 18-49 and I assure you that is commendable growth over Adult Swim Saturday late nights in recent years.

Overall: It was a lower week for the first half of the night but pretty average for the second half. The competition was fierce so we should all be proud with how well Toonami managed that night. If that becomes the norm for a “bad night” then Toonami will be in great shape going forward.