According to Scientific American, U.S. adults are getting it on less these days, and maybe that's showing up in their TV viewing habits.
The newest reality dating-competition series to blend the volatile elements of sexy singles and Nick Lachey, Perfect Match, debuted to just 24.7 million viewing hours for the week of Feb. 13-19.
With Netflix appropriately dropping the first four episodes on Valentines Day, that accounts for almost a full week of viewing. Netflix drops the next four episodes today (Feb. 21) and the final four of the 12-installment first season on Feb. 28.
It's not a disastrous performance, given that Netflix and its dating show production partner, Kinetic Content, probably aren't springing for the proverbial full dinner-and-a-movie budget. But Netflix might not be so quick to text Lachey for a third date, given how things have turned lately.
A year ago, the season 2 premiere of the similarly themed Love Is Blind, which is hosted by Lachay and his wife, Vanessa, debuted to nearly 60 million viewing hours -- a solid development for a subscription streaming platform about to dip its toes into advertising with a format proven popular over two decades in linear broadcast primetime.
However, Love Is Blind has petered out quite a bit in season 3. Netflix dropped the final three episodes of that third campaign on Feb. 10 and drew just 12.5 million viewing hours in the first three days.
For Love Is Blind: S3's first full week on platform, Feb. 13-19, it garnered just under 16 million viewing hours.
Call an Uber. We're going home. Alone.
Notably, ABC's venerable The Bachelor recently debuted to its lowest ratings in 25 years on the air, so maybe the broader TV audience is ready to divorce the entire platform and move on.
Season 4 of You actually finished last week as Netflix's most watched show, even though it dropped nearly a third of its debut audience to finish with just 64 million viewing hours.
Meanwhile, in films, original movie Your Place or Mine held largely flat with its debut a week earlier, capturing 52.8 million viewing hours.
