This first paragraph is a little soapbox-y, but I feel like saying something which seems to still be prevalent on this subreddit and throughout the fanbase in general, if you don’t make to read a rant and just want some analysis, skip to under the line. But the point I want to make real quick: Cartoon Network is not trying to ruin Steven Universe. Holy balls, I can’t believe that so many people think that Cartoon Network wants to show to fail. I honestly don't know why people think this, it's certainly not because of when they decide to air the show. On Thursday (the biggest night for TV), at 7 PM EST (just at the start of primetime), BEFORE any major sports. And you especially cannot blame their advertising department especially right now. Yes, in the past they've tried to advertise Steven universe as a comedy show, rather than the action-adventure tragedy that it is, but look at the rest of their lineup. Not a single action show in the bunch (not including the recent Adventure Time which is just started becoming more serious). Look at this here tumblr post, but the TL;DR of its, is that Cartoon Network simply does not know how to advertise this show. And we are seeing massive strides with the way that they're handling In Too Deep, as well as a little bit with Steven's Birthday. If you see Cartoon Network try to kill a show, then look at what they're trying to do with Uncle Grandpa. Moving it to Saturday morning and not advertise it at all. It was announced that UG is ending production after it's five seasons it is scheduled for, the same amount that Steven Universe currently is scheduled for. However, I think that if Cartoon Network wanted to do the same thing to SU as it did to UG, we’d see shifted to one of the worst slots for TV, not special advertisements and the best slot on the best night. My two cents.
Now, the numbers:
Position: Stets came in #th place when going by the 18-19 demo, up/down from last week’s 9th, and had #.### million viewers, up/down from last week’s 1.693 mil.
Lost to: OKC vs GSW (playoff basketball),
Notable victories: All of the rest of the Cartoon Network lineup.
18-49 demo rating of 0.##, which is up/down 0.## from last week's 0.46 (don’t worry, see conclusion)
Steven Universe was the ___ most popular scripted show in the 18-49 demographic. Last week, the two-parter was the most popular scripted show.
___ most popular in the 12-34 general demographic (up/down from 5th last week)
___ most popular in the 12-34 female demographic (up/down from 2nd last week)
___ most popular in the 12-34 male demographic (up/down from 3rd last week)
Conclusion: Not too surprised by these numbers. The season premiere and season finale will pretty much always be the #1 and #2 most viewed episodes, especially with the premiere being a two parter, so a drop was expected. These numbers are still pretty good, and the important thing to realise is that it’s showing CN what their most popular show currently is.