‘Duck Dynasty’ Cancelled? Season 6 Ratings Put Phil Robertson’s Family In The Crosshairs

Could we see Duck Dynasty cancelled soon by A&E? All the newest reports all seem to be doom and gloom when it comes to the Duck Dynasty season 6 ratings, but do Duck Commander fans even need worry about the beloved Robertson family being yanked off the reality TV show stage any time soon?

In a related report by The Inquisitr, much of the controversy centered around the show has focused on the comments on Duck Commander patriarch Phil Robertson, who did it again when he recently called President Obama and the Democrats “evil” during a speech at a Republican convention (to be fair, Phil did call out the GOP party, as well). The political atmosphere is so bad that even a union tried to get several Duck Dynasty fans fired. So perhaps it makes sense that some members of the family are entering the world of politics, with Phil’s nephew eyeballing the House Of Representatives.

Regardless of Phil’s comments on the Bible and homosexuality, which have the producer defending Phil by saying critics of the show are off the mark, the only reason A&E would likely ever have Duck Dynasty cancelled is if it makes financial sense. And that’s where the Duck Dynasty season 6 ratings come into play:

“[T]he ratings for the season five debut, pulling in just 4.3 million viewers — about half of the number who watched the January premiere. Wednesday’s premiere was the lowest-rated Duck Dynasty episode since November 14 of 2012, and represented a massive drop from the season four premiere last August, which pulled in 11.77 million, still a record for the reality show. The episode also disappointed with the 18-49 year-old group most prized by advertisers. Only 1.8 million viewers from that demographic watched Duck Dynasty on Wednesday. That’s 45 percent lower than the season five premiere which attracted 3.3 million 18-49 age viewers and 28 percent lower than the season five finale just three months ago. That Duck Dynasty episode pulled did a 2.5 number in the key demo.”

Let’s put these numbers in perspective. Some reality TV shows like Dancing With The Stars and The Voice may pull in well over 10 million viewers. If you check out the list of cancelled TV shows in 2014 you will see that some of them managed to break 10 million viewers, but many of the cancelled TV shows were in the same range as the recent Duck Dynasty ratings, which sounds bad on the face of it.

So would the recent drop cause A&E to have Duck Dynasty cancelled? Not necessarily. Viewership largely determines advertising revenue but a good chunk of their income is generated from Duck Dynasty merchandise. The cost of a Duck Dynasty episode budget is also dramatically lower compared to those other cancelled TV shows. While we do not have exact numbers, as of 2013 it was claimed the Robertson family, and all the people involved in the show, were charging somewhere around $200,000 per episode. So we can guesstimate that each episode costs less than half a million to produce. That’s peanuts if you consider that a major show like Game Of Thrones costs $6 million per episode and even the Big Bang Theory costs $2 million.

Over all, this means that unless the ratings drop significantly more A&E will not have Duck Dynasty cancelled any time soon, although critics of Phil Roberton and his family may wish otherwise.