ChuckTV.net The CHUCK archive
First, my apologies for the delay in getting this analysis completed; I know you’ve been (im)patiently waiting. Last month we asked Chuck fans to complete a survey focused on discovering which elements of Chuck are the most indispensable. Fandom (of any kind) has a tendency to talk in absolutes about such things, so we decided to find out what the numbers said. Here are the results with screencaps of the results pages.
General Overview
1507 people took the survey, a nice sample size of the roughly 90,000 visitors who stopped by ChuckTV.net each month during the hiatus. It is important to note that this is the average during hiatus; we assume the number of survey respondents would have been higher if the show was on the air simply because traffic on the site is higher during that time. We may conduct another survey at the end of the season for comparison.
Of those 1507 people, 64% are male and 36% are female. Based solely on anecdotal evidence (e.g. the people who comment on the site and in the forums), it did seem that the majority of active fans are male. Looks like the data backs that up. Also, if you’re doing the math in your head while reading the results for specific questions, remember that because the male respondents are significantly larger in number than female, their responses will weigh heavier in the combined average.
The age breakdown is also fairly expected: 31% of respondents are in the 18-24 age bracket; 17% in the 25-30 bracket; and 12% are under 18. Thus, 60% of respondents are 30 or younger. It is wise to note that because this is an online survey, on a fansite, the odds of reaching older viewers is much lower than reaching younger. (see screencap of demographics)
Not every person answered every question, but the bulk of respondents did complete the survey. In the case of Question 4, respondents only saw that question if they answered “Yes” on Question 3. Each question was restricted to one answer per respondent, except question 2. See below for further explanation of that variation.
Question 1 – Which element of Chuck is the main reason you watch?
One of the more contentious debates within Chuck fandom is the importance of one element over another. By forcing fans to choose only one of these elements as the main reason they watch the show, a clearer picture of preference emerges.
41% of respondents chose Chuck and Sarah’s “journey toward coupledom” as the main reason they watch. While this is not the “majority of fans” some have claimed during debates, it is indeed significant. Also of note is the gender and age breakdown for this preference: 42% of men and 45% of women named this the main reason they watch the show. Meanwhile, 42.5% of respondents 24 and under selected this option; 36.5% of those ages 25-35 chose it; and a whopping 50.4% of fans ages 36-70 marked Chuck and Sarah as their primary reason for watching the show.
Coming in second with 20% of the vote is Team Bartowski, followed by The Comedy and The Hero’s Journey, each garnering 15% of votes. Trailing a distant fourth is the Spy Stuff with 4%, Casey vs. Everyone with 3%, The Buy More and Family Ties with 1% each, and Friends Are Friends Forever with less than 1%. Poor Ellie and Awesome didn’t get a single vote in this category. (see screencap of Question 1 responses)
Question 2 – Rank the various elements of Chuck by MOST favorite to LEAST favorite
Here’s where it really gets interesting. The question was designed to allow one answer per rank – e.g. each fan assigns one element to 10, one to 9, etc. – but due to limitations of the survey software, we couldn’t restrict each person to one response per ranking so many fans ranked two or more elements as a 10 for MOST favorite. We’ll start with the combined ranking, then break it down a little from there.
As expected the Chuck and Sarah romance garnered the top number of MOST favorite votes here with 54% giving it a 10 ranking. (Yes, that’s more than the percentage who marked it the main reason they watched on Question 1; we’ll get to that below.) 18% gave it a 9 ranking, and on down the ladder to the 2% who named it their LEAST favorite element of the show. Of those giving it a 10, 55% were women and 53% were men.
Coming in second, again, is Team Bartowski with 37% of the overall vote for MOST favorite. Third place goes to The Comedy with 32% while The Hero’s journey garnered 25% for fourth place. As expected, Awesome and Ellie came in last here as well with just 5% naming them their most favorite element of the show. (see screencap of Question 2 responses)
Now let’s take a look at the numbers for people who gave more than one element a 10 ranking. We’ll start with the total number of respondents who gave the Chuck and Sarah relationship a 10 which was 712. So for this part of the analysis, 100% of respondents = 712. Of those 712 people, 36% also ranked Team Bartowski as MOST favorite while 34% also ranked The Comedy as most important. 26% gave The Hero’s Journey a 10 in addition to Chuck and Sarah while 21% gave a 10 to Spy Stuff.
Looking at it a different way, 52% of those who gave Team Bartowski at 10, also gave Chuck and Sarah a 10 ranking. In addition, 56% of fans who ranked The Comedy as most favorite also ranked Chuck and Sarah as most favorite. In other words, for the majority of fans, the Chuck and Sarah relationship, the spy world and the comedy elements carry the same weight and are inextricably intertwined.
Question 3 – Do you feel strongly enough about any element of Chuck to stop watching the show if the storyline doesn’t go the way you want?
This question was designed to determine if fan prognostication that Chuck is doomed if certain parts don’t live up to their expectations lived up to the claim. The results are definitive: 82% responded with NO. That breaks down to 83% of women and 81% of men answering “No” in this category. It’s a tiny difference, but the 2% gap is interesting if only to note that slightly more men than women feel strongly that they want storylines to go a certain way. (see screencap of Question 3 responses)
Question 4 – If you answered yes to Question 3, which element would cause you to stop watching Chuck if it doesn’t go the way you want?
Of the 18% who answered yes to question 3, 86% cited the Chuck and Sarah romance as the element that would cause them to quit watching the show if it doesn’t go they way they want. The 2% gap from Question 3 reappears here with 87% of men and 85% of women who answered “Yes” selecting the Chuck and Sarah romance as the storyline they want to see go a certain way or they’ll quit watching the show. (see screencap of Question 4 responses)
In distant second with 4% was…The Comedy. Have to admit, I did not see that coming. Third went to The Buy More with 3% and fourth went to The Hero’s Journey and Team Bartowski, tied with 2% of the vote (which translates to 6 votes each).
Question 5 – How do you feel about spoilers?
As you know, we post some spoilers here at ChuckTV.net, but avoid giving away too much out of respect for the show. So we wondered, how do Chuck fans feel about spoilers? 42% of respondents say they love them and spoilers keep them excited about the show; 37% say they don’t seek out spoilers, but will read them; 13% hate spoilers and don’t want to know anything before the episode airs; and 8% (probably wisely) said they don’t trust spoilers. (see screencap of Question 5 responses)
The gender breakdown here is disparate enough to warrant a mention. 53% of women say they love spoilers while only 37% of men selected that response. Men ranked higher in the “I don’t seek them out” category with 40% choosing that option while only 32% of women answered in kind. Of those who hate spoilers, 15% are men and 9% are women.
So there you have it, the results of our first fan survey. If you’d like a further breakdown on a specific question or part of a question, let me know and I’ll do my best to get it for you.
Again, this survey was conducted by ChuckTV.net and measured opinions of fans who visit our site. It was not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated with NBC, College Hill, Wonderland Sound and Vision, or anyone associated with Chuck.
Mel Thanks for the survey. Wow The Chuck and Sarah Storyline was head and shoulders above Team Bartowski as reasons to watch. I agree but this show is so diverse and when the romance along with the action and comedy clicking on all cylinders there is no better show on television. It’s only when the romance turns into an angst fest does the show start to show cracks.
I am glad that such an overwelming majority would not quit watching if storylines didn’t go there way. I hope if we stick it out we will be rewarded.
Mel this is probably as good a survey as you could come up with and I appreciate all of your efforts. Surveys are tough under the best of circumstances and on line surveys are even tougher. For this show to continue it has to please millions of fans that never post on any board. This probably tends to be older fans which may or may not make your age breakdown considerably more meaningful. The show’s future depends on the route F&S take during S3. Hopefully they will be wise enough to get us an S4. The market will be the final judge.
Nice analysis. I’m a little surprised that such a high number picked the relationship as the #1 draw. Because participating in the forum, one would certainly not get that impression. But overall, I would say that those numbers are close to my personal preferences. I’m very surprised that The Hero’s Journey scored so low. As that is the theme they seem to be promoting.
Hopefully there is lots of romance in S3 heros journey or you are going to have some unhappy Chucksters.
Well, not that this survey is the be all & end all.
It was just one survey & only a small portion of the overall fanbase voted.
I will say this however, as a C&S Relationship fan & as I said, C&S relationship being my favorite part of the show.
I hope now that this proves to be a little bit, what I & others have been saying. (Allthough Not Entirely Only 1 Survey)
Chuck & Sarah’s relationship is important to a lot of people & a Lot Of Chuck fans.
Also, seeing it advance in a proper manner with the proper conclusion that many of us Chuck fans want (Which is C&S being together as a real couple) is important to the fans & this show.
Hopefully, now Chuck & Sarah relationship fans opinions will be tolorated & respected a little more & we won’t be ridiculed quite as much for having the opinions that we do.
Also, please let’s stop this foolish notion, that if your a fan of Chuck & Sarah & the relationship, than you are not a “Real Chuck Fan”
I think that is just crap & I’m frankly tired of hearing it.
It is a fact & always has been that Chuck & Sarah’s romance is important to the Chuck fanbase.
It’s important on these Boards. It is important on the NBC Boards & it has been for damn sure been proven to be important at the many comic – cons since Chuck has been on the air.
I happen to like Chuck & Sarah’s Romance most of all on this show.
However, as I have said I like many aspects of Chuck & I have stated all fans can like many differeent things about this show.
However, please lets stop ridiculing fans that happen to like C&S relationship most of all & for God’s sake stop with the nonsense from some, that if you focus on C&S relationship as your favorite part of the show…
“Then You Are Not A True Fan Of Chuck” because I think that is complete crap.
BMB
nice analysis! 🙂
Great poll, Mel! Thanks for publishing all of those stats!
While they kind of line up with how I feel about the show, it’s also quite sobering to consider where the show would be today without the Chuck/Sarah relationship.
After all, if it’s true that the outpouring of effort from the fans was the deciding factor in the show’s renewal, and if this poll reflects the fans’ interests, then logically if there had been no Charah there would be no more Chuck.
Having said that, without the framework of characters and plot to act as a scaffold for the relationship it wouldn’t carry the charm that it does. Two people circling each other in a vacuum does not a story make.
So about half of Chuck fans do consider the relationship most important. That’s not a surprise. But of that half most are not so obsessed as to quit the show. I liked that.
What I find most intriguing is that people in my age group are so invested in the romance. I would’ve thought we’d be more cynical and not as interested as those young folk in their twenties who should be the hopeless romantics.
Why would the Chuck and Sarah moving towards coupledom be a surprise as coming out at number 1 be a surprise?
Who does not want that? And it is exactly what the show is giving us.
Its the call for them to be together yesterday that is tiresome.
For me the big reveal was only 18% said they would quit the show outright. Proof positive that there is much wolf crying going on.
18% is actually higher than I thought it would be based on chatter around different forums, to the point that it worries me. I always thought that the opinion of “I will quit the show if it doesn’t go exactly how I want” was more of an insignificantly small but vocal minority opinion. I don’t know much about statistics outside of one college course, but 18%, while a minority, isn’t insignificant.
Obviously the most pertinent topic for quitting the show is the Charah quandary, so we can reduce that a little bit more to 86% of the 18% that said they would quit the show cited Chuck / Sarah, (.86 x .18 = .1548). So 15.5% would presumably quit if Charah didn’t turn out positive (unless they would quit if they actually got together… but that’s a whole other question).
Now, this is just a survey and, similar to the Nielsen data, is just a small representative sample of the population at large. Maybe I shouldn’t put as much thought into this as I did, but it seems that, even when you eliminate some noise and adjust for error (error on a sample size of 1507 is about 2.5%, Wikipedia ‘sample size’ for an explanation) that the results indicate that more than 10% of the population may quit if they don’t get what they want. Maybe that’s unreasonable and maybe that is a gross overestimation (I hope so), but I think it is a valid question as to whether or not Chuck could survive losing about 10% of it’s audience based on S2 averages. Of course, a lot more things are in play when it comes to that (NBC’s current tank-i-tude, increase in primetime promotion that may bump ratings), but I, personally, am worried.
Sorry for the wall of text, BTW. I missed the survey and while I am a shipper, I wouldn’t quit the show for anything short of them murdering the ship permanently and altogether.
Good analysis, Ricter. I agree that 18% is not insignificant, but it’s certainly less than some fans would have you believe.
As stated above, we’ll probably run another survey at the end of the season, when more fans are visiting the site and Chuck is fresh in our minds. The comparison should be very interesting.
“Good analysis, Ricter. I agree that 18% is not insignificant, but it’s certainly less than some fans would have you believe.”
Totally. Also, no doubt you did an outstanding job with this poll, Mel, so thank you very much. But I still don’t think that this results speak for all of those millions of casual Chuck fans who watched the show the last two seasons. This sample pool (1507 voters) is not that big, imo, so I don’t see these results as the official and definitive ones. What the hardcores prefer is not always what the mainstream wants. I’ve seen this thing happened in many internet forums from different fandoms. A lot of the hardcore fans obsess with the details and lose perspective of the big picture, while the casual fans/mainstream just want to be entertained with a fun and well-written show/movie/etc.
“As stated above, we’ll probably run another survey at the end of the season, when more fans are visiting the site and Chuck is fresh in our minds. The comparison should be very interesting.”
PLEASE DO IT. It should be really interesting, especially now that Chuck has all these amazing abilities, and that he is now part of the real action. The show is changing, it looks like the spy stuff, the action and comedy are the main focus, and I welcome that. The romance is very good but it shouldn’t be the main focus, imo.
Personally, I think the best argument that the number of people that would ‘quit’ the show is less than 15% is that this was an internet poll on a specific site, and was therefore, not completely random. People on the internet, at a site like this, obviously have stronger opinions than the general viewing public and it is certainly plausible that they are a smaller minority in and of themselves.
The results still scare me though. If we assume the premise that the people who participated are representative of the whole viewership base, then the sample size was plenty big enough to conclude that an appreciable portion is ready to jump ship (1507 = 2.5% error, which is well within the 95% confidence basic statistics preaches).
Hum… the 18%/15% is actually pretty much what my gut was saying from reading the boards, Ricter. It’s right there on the boarder between “not insignificant” and “significant”.
I agree with Mel that some fans have overstated it, but clearly, it’s not something to be ignored either.
For me, the most interesting thing was the correlation between age and not gender and who gave Chuck & Sarah together as the main reason for watching the show – “a whopping 50.4% of fans ages 36-70 marked Chuck and Sarah as their primary reason for watching the show.”. (Hey! That’s me!) Who’d have thought that us old fogies were such romantics?
” Who’d have thought that us old fogies were such romantics?”
And a lot of them men.. pretty shocking and unexpected to be honest.
I resemble that remark! 😉
me too!
yeah..
“Now, this is just a survey and, similar to the Nielsen data, is just a small representative sample of the population at large.”
Very small, I would say.
“Maybe I shouldn’t put as much thought into this as I did, but it seems that, even when you eliminate some noise and adjust for error (error on a sample size of 1507 is about 2.5%, Wikipedia ’sample size’ for an explanation) that the results indicate that more than 10% of the population may quit if they don’t get what they want. Maybe that’s unreasonable and maybe that is a gross overestimation (I hope so), but I think it is a valid question as to whether or not Chuck could survive losing about 10% of it’s audience based on S2 averages.”
Or maybe now that the show is clearly more action oriented (or so it seems going by the trailers), and that the Intersect/Chuck is a bigger player in the show dynamics, new fans will be attracted to that.
So maybe some fans might quit watching the show if they don’t get what they want, but it could also be that new fans/fresh blood could be born because of the new elements in the show? 😉
Yes, it is a small sample of the TOTAL VIEWERSHIP of Chuck, but it’s a healthy sample of the number of people who visit ChuckTV.net, as I stated in the overview.
“Or maybe now that the show is clearly more action oriented (or so it seems going by the trailers), and that the Intersect/Chuck is a bigger player in the show dynamics, new fans will be attracted to that.
So maybe some fans might quit watching the show if they don’t get what they want, but it could also be that new fans/fresh blood could be born because of the new elements in the show? ;)”
Right. That is exactly what I was trying to articulate with the next sentence in my first post. With the current promotion push, it is certainly plausible that an uptick in the ratings could occur (Chuck vs the 3rd Dimension seems like a reasonable benchmark, imho *knock on wood*). Of course, the counter to this is that it is plausible that some people that were on board at the end of last season have already given up since then for whatever reason (maybe they didn’t like how S2 ended, maybe the rampant speculation turned them off… who knows?).
I know this: I’m almost as interested to see TVBTN on January 11 and every Tuesday thereafter as I am to see the new season of Chuck.
“For me the big reveal was only 18% said they would quit the show outright. Proof positive that there is much wolf crying going on”
Absolutely. You would think that it’d be the opposite, going by their comments in forums.
And good post in general. So glad to see that the mayority of fans who voted have some healthy perspective on this great show.
I was replying to OldDarth’s post, just to clarify.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm………………
Only 18 percent. I know I am one who will not leave the show because everything doesn’t go the way I expect it to. That being said, some shows, just get stale to me and I lose interest. I haven’t watched an episode of any of the CSI shows this year. I used to enjoy them, but I am just getting bored with it.
I think Chuck has a long way to go before I feel that way about the show. It would require the writers being void of creativity and the actors to all of a sudden get really bad this season before I would give up. From the promo’s and from what I know from the past few seasons, I doubt that is going to happen. Chuck is such a unique show.
Maybe by season 10 (think positive), I will start to get bored with Chuck and give up on the show in S11.
A note from someone who does this stuff for a living, especially in regards to Q3 and Q5, it’s worth remembering that this was a poll among people interested enough in the show to visit a fan website, and not among all fans of the show. Visiting a fan website may have a high correlation with living with things not going how you would like, as well as openness to spoilers. Q1 and Q2 don’t have this bias built into the sample, but we have no way of knowing how well their results would scale to the entire fanbase.
On the flip side, Chuck does seem to have a much more active fan community than most shows, and I can’t think of any way that you’d be able to find enough fans of the show that don’t visit fan sites to do the survey, other than contracting out a large, (inter)national survey at an expense that would definitely not be worth it.
Oh, the correlation for Q3 could also be “are more emotionally invested in certain plotlines than the average fan so more likely to stop watching if it doesn’t go the way they want”
Indeed. We noted that – this being a sample of those who visited a FANSITE – in the General Overview, but I know many may have skipped over that to get to the results.
What’s interesting to me is the “Hero’s Journey” consistently brings up the rear of the train. I had gotten the impression form comments on the Forum boards, that Chuck was all about the Hero’s Journey” and that everything else was ancillary.
As it turns out, at least form this survey, that is the least important element to the show.
I was interested in the 18% who said they’d quit the show if the C/S factor didn’t go as they wanted it to go. That number was poo-pooed by some, maybe over emphasized by others.
As for me, I can’t really put my finger on what the exact tipping point would be. What I do know is this. When Chuck ceases to entertain me, then I will drift away. I’m not sure there will be a magical moment when that occurs. It’ll probably be more of a gradual build up.
For me, the Chuck/Sarah relationship is a very large element of why I watch Chuck. Depending on how that relationship is handled will move me closer and faster to the tipping point than any thing else.
If their relationship progress in what would seem to me a reasonable and logical (which would include bumps as all relationships do) I have no problems. However, if I perceive the bumps, etc as contrived and used as just a device to create more “angst” then I would be moving towards the tipping point rather quickly.
There are other parts and characters that I also like and hope would continue to be a part of a very good show. Some of those include the humor, sometimes with the BuyMore and sometimes without, Casey’s character, the spy stories.
Of course, it’s just me, but I like the straight up spy stories such as “La Cuidad”, in season 1 more than the constant battle agains Fulcrum and now The Ring.
Here’s hoping the show continues to entertain me for years to come. If not, I’ll have DVD’s of season 1 and season 2 to occupy some of my time.
Mel and team, have you sent this survey results to the powers that be at NBC?
Great analysis, great survey. I think NBC could learn a lot from it.
I have 2 points that I’d like to share about the survey.
1: You’ve spread out the ‘favorite things about the show’ too much. A great example is Casey and The Comedy. I dunno about you guys, but I find Casey a key side of the comedy, with his grunting and all. The show wouldnt be the same without him and his comedy…
2: It can be hard to distinguish what is your ‘least favorite part’ of the show. For example, I was very saddened by Orion’s death. That being said, it may have been necessary for the show. I cant tell if I’m making myself clear, but what I’m trying to say is that while I didnt like seeing Orion die, maybe he had to for the plot. Hence, I’m loathe to say it was my least favorite part of the show. After all, the show cant always be sunshine and butterflies…