Once Upon a Time Season 8: Don’t count OUAT out just yet

While overnight ratings might not be as strong as they once where, fans shouldn’t start counting out Once Upon a Time just yet.

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Once Upon a Time fans who have been keeping track of the show’s recent performance in the overnight ratings will know that the numbers are not nearly as strong as they once were. Throughout the first half of its seventh season, Once Upon a Time averaged 2.4 million total viewers and a 0.5 demo rating which is down 21 and 41 percent from the show’s Season 6 average -keeping in mind, though, that Season 6 aired on  Sunday night.

Going off of the overnight numbers alone, it’s easy for outsiders to write the show off. However, as Once Upon a Time fans have come to know, you can never count out ABC’s fairytale drama which has defied the odds since it first made its way onto ABC’s schedule back in 2011.

While the overnight numbers are not the strongest, the show is a strong performer in delayed viewing – something ABC president Channing Dungey stressed when discussing the show’s future at the 2018 Television Critics Association winter press tour noting that “ratings have been a little bit lower on Friday than they were on Sunday, but in delayed viewing, where we were averaging a bump of about 55% before, this year’s been into the triple digits, so the actual fanbase really hasn’t shifted very much. It’s more that they’ve been watching more time-shifted since we’ve been on Friday.”

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In fact, the delayed numbers (season-to-date, Once is enjoying a boost of 120 percent) are so strong that ABC is already in talks with creators Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz regarding what an eighth season would look like and it is the conversation with Adam and Eddy that will play the biggest role in the network’s decision to move forward with Season 8.

Next: 30 TV shows in danger of being canceled in 2018

Once Upon a Time returns from its winter hiatus Friday, March 2 at 8/7c on ABC. 

Are you relived to hear that ABC has not yet ruled out an eighth season of Once Upon a Time and that the network’s magical drama could be coming back for another go-around in the 2018-19 season? What have you thought of the first half of the show’s recently retooled season? Keep the conversation going in the comments section below.