Kardashian Family's Empire in Trouble? TV Ratings Drop Amid Divorce and Drug Scandals
The Kardashian empire could be suffering after being hit with lawsuits, cheating allegations and divorces. In addition, the family's reality television show is seeing the lowest ratings in its history.
"Kourtney & Kim Take New York" premiered in January 2011 with 3 million viewers in 2011, according to TV By the Numbers. Before that, "Kourtney & Khloé Take Miami" set a record for E! with the season finale of season two in 2010 pulling in a whopping 3.7 million viewers.
But here in 2013, viewers seem to be tuning out in dramatic fashion. A September episode gathered only 1.79 million viewers overall and only 1 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic.
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There are any number of reasons why fans seem to be losing interest, but one thing is for sure: the drop came soon after reports surfaced of Lamar Odom cheated on Khloe as well as rumors of his drug use.
"Kris is seeing red," a source told Hollywood Gossip. "Kris fiercely protects the Kardashian brand name and empire and to now have it associated with a drug problem, to her, it's unacceptable. She used to be very close to Lamar, but she is disgusted by what has happened."
With contract negotiations approaching, "maintaining their brand image is paramount [right now]," branding and marketing expert Liz Goodgold told RadarOnline.com.
"[Kim, Khloe and Kourtney] really don't have anything going for them at this point," branding expert Rob Frankel told The Hollywood Gossip. "Brands are about building trust and value … The Kardashians don't care about that, they care about marketing, slapping their name on whatever they can until the interest runs out."
"[After 2015], it's on to [Kendall and Kylie], the other acts that they've got coming up," he surmised. Kim, Khloe and Kourtney "were really a disposable property. They never had a strategy to keep that identity going for the long-term."
