Diving Into This Is Us

Photo: NBC

It’s time to get out the tissue and invest heavily in a good waterproof mascara, because NBC’s family-focused tearjerker This Is Us returns to airwaves for a sixth and final season on January 4. But fans aren’t the only ones who will be crying: the show pulled in millions of viewers with the premiere of each episode, and its departure will create a serious gap in NBC’s prime-time lineup. As the highs and lows of the Pearson clan come to a close, the search for the show’s replacement is likely already underway. 

As the sixth season kicks off, we’re using Ranker Insights to draw some conclusions about what exactly is so beloved about this prime-time drama, and what other shows are beloved by its incredibly large fan base. The answers should help provide NBC with an idea of which boxes their next offerings should tick to retain the millions of viewers it's been able to attract with This Is Us without creating a carbon copy of the original.

Photo: NBC

This Is Us on Ranker

This Is Us appears on over 100 lists, topping polls about families, dramas, and shows on NBC. 

The drama currently holds the #2 spot on Ranker’s list of The Best Current NBC Shows (9K votes), beating out Chicago, P.D., New Amsterdam, and Law & Order: Organized Crime. It also nabs the #3 spot on our Best Drama Shows About Families list (6K votes), ahead of fan favorites like Little House on the Prarie, ABC Family’s The Fosters, and PBS’s Downton Abbey. This Is Us is #4 on TV Shows That Essentially Exist To Make You Cry (2K votes), edging out Grey’s Anatomy, 13 Reasons Why, and the HBO classic Six Feet Under.

This Is Us comes in at #5 on Ranker’s  The Best Recent Shows You Can Watch With Mom list (2K votes), winning the top spot over Netflix’s The Great British Bake-Off, CBS’s Mom, and ABC’s The Goldbergs. The long-running NBC drama was also voted to the top of The Greatest TV Shows About Marriage (1K votes) and very close to the top of The Saddest TV Shows In 2020 (1K votes).

Who’s Watching This Is Us?

Fans of This Is Us, who tune in for the family drama but stay for the pitch-perfect performances, seek out shows that are similarly steeped in emotion and tragedy. But beyond the melodrama, fans are also attracted to series with a similar focus on family, shows that span different time periods, and shows that belong to the same network.

FAMILY DRAMA DEVOTEES

Judging by the tastes of its fans, one major part of the appeal of This Is Us to prime-time audiences seems to be the show’s focus on family drama. Fans of This Is Us are almost 9X more likely to check out NBC’s Parenthood, another family drama series that was well known in its day for provoking its audience to ugly-cry. This Is Us fans are also almost 8X more likely to check out the fast-talking Gilmore Girls, beloved as much for its depiction of a loving mother-daughter pair as for its rapid, witty dialogue. Finally, they’re also 8X more likely than the average TV viewer to love ABC’s Modern Family, which centers on domestic family life and is one of the most popular sitcoms on the air. 

These viewers love This Is Us and… Parenthood, Gilmore Girls, Modern Family

HISTORICAL DRAMA BUFFS

The time-jumping aspect of This Is Us also seems to be a major part of its appeal, as fans are drawn to other shows either permanently set in another time or that similarly jump from period to period. Fans of This Is Us are 3X more likely to enjoy Netflix’s historical epic The Crown, which follows the British royal family’s journey from the 1950s up until the modern era. Fans are also almost 4X more inclined than the average viewer to check out Amazon Prime’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a femme-focused dramedy about a female stand-up comic in the 1950s. Folks who enjoy dramas set in the past are also 2X more likely to watch Starz's Outlander, about a woman from the modern age who falls in love with an 18th-century Scottish warrior.  

These viewers love This Is Us and… The Crown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Outlander

THE PEACOCK’S PRIME-TIME AUDIENCE

Finally, fans of prime-time offerings from NBC who are loyal to the network and its programming are more likely to check out other current NBC series. Fans of This Is Us are 4X as likely to watch medical drama New Amsterdam and 2X as likely to become fans of Chicago Med. They’re also 4X more likely to watch Good Girls, the crime drama/comedy from NBC starring Mae Whitman, Rhetta, and Christina Hendricks that sadly ended this year. 

These viewers love This Is Us and… New Amsterdam, Chicago Med, Good Girls

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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