'Hairspray' Not a Big Hit for NBC

NBC's latest addition to the list of live stage musical broadcasts, Hairspray Live!, was not a ratings success for the network. In fact, it was the lowest-rated of NBC's live musical productions, and its performance could indicate that musical broadcasts are not the sure hits that they appeared to be only a couple of years ago.

The live broadcast of Hairspray drew 9 million viewers, coming in just behind the 9.2 million who watched Peter Pan Live! in 2014. Peter Pan had previously been the lowest-rated musical on NBC's roster. The Sound of Music Live!, the first of the network's modern musical productions, drew 18.6 million, and last year's The Wiz Live! drew 11.5 million.

Fox has also had problems with musical productions lately after early success. In January, Grease: Live drew 12.2 million viewers to the network, but The Passion drew only 6.6 million in March, and a pre-recorded production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show attracted only 4.9 million viewers in October.

The lesson here might be that musical broadcasts are not automatic hits and that there's more to winning over viewers than stunt casting and marketing campaigns. Networks might need to make sure they're producing high-quality versions of the right musicals instead of assuming that viewers are going to flock to any hyped musical broadcast.