Are viewers over Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing franchise? After the latest season of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles bombed in the ratings this week, some longtime fans are now asking that question.
The Season 14 premiere of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles earned a 0.08 in the P18-49 demo and just 404,000 live viewers in the ratings on Thursday night (December 8), making it the lowest-rated premiere in the show’s history from what TV Deets can tell.
For comparison’s sake, Season 13 debuted to a 0.13 and 660,000 viewers back in September 2021 and Season 12 earned a 0.28 and 863,000 viewers when it premiered in June 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Click Here to check out episode-by-episode ratings for MDLLA.
Cast changes
One reason for the lacklustre premiere may be the significant cast changes that were made ahead of the new season.
In addition to Fredrik Eklund announcing his departure from the Million Dollar Listing franchise entirely, James Harris and David Parnes are also not back for Season 14, leaving existing cast members Josh Altman, Tracy Tutor, and Josh Flagg to carry the torch.
While Bravo has not revealed a reason for the cast changes — the network allows talent to announce their own exits and most end up saying it was their decision to leave whether it was or not — it is rumoured James and David, in particular, were allegedly let go due to concerns over The Agency also appearing on Netflix’s Buying Beverly Hills.
Interestingly enough, the duo just signed a deal to partner with two agents who were featured on-camera during the Netflix show’s first season.
New York cancellation
Another factor in the low buzz for MDLLA could be the cancellation, or pause, of Million Dollar Listing New York.
Back in July 2022, Variety reported that New York is effectively cancelled after being put on “pause” by Bravo. The news was revealed after Fredrik announced his exit from the franchise entirely.
Lack of promotion
Some fans on social media have noted concerns over a lack of promotion for the series, with many claiming not to know MDLLA was even back.
While the network had announced Season 14 with the usual trailer and press release and the cast appeared at BravoCon, it is true that buzz for the new season has been underwhelming. A lack of promotion could be responsible for the low ratings — it is true that some Bravo shows lack the huge PR push of previous years — it could also be that there is just so much more competition in the reality TV space and real estate, in particular.
Netflix’s Selling Sunset has grown massively in popularity in recent years and is available worldwide, creating multiple spinoffs in Selling The OC and Selling Tampa. It is arguably the streamer’s number one docuseries while the Million Dollar Listing spinoffs — hi, San Francisco, New York, and Miami! — no longer exist.
Whatever the reason for the low buzz is, fans seemed to have enjoyed the MDLLA premiere. Here’s to hoping the show builds buzz as the season progresses.
Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
