This interesting article from AdAge about the ratings difficulty that ABC is having with “Quantico” after a lengthy hiatus. My first thought was how deftly AMC has strategically employed long hiatuses in its most popular series, such as The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, but then I read this:

AMC‘s “The Walking Dead” returned from its break with a slight decline from its fall finale, but still delivered 13.7 million viewers and a 6.8 rating. AMC was also able to stretch out the final season of “Breaking Bad” over the course of more than a year as anticipation only grew.

In this new era of mobile viewing and streaming content, the quaint notion of forced hiatuses due to summer breaks and 22-episode seasons has passed. A show needs to achieve the secret sauce that grabs a critical mass of viewers that will agonize over a hiatus, instead of simply moving on to the next new thing.

For whatever reason, AMC has achieved this with an impressive array of series, exemplified by The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men. ABC seems to be flailing (or failing?) a bit in its efforts to duplicate AMC’s results. Now I am no longer in the target demographic for ABC, but I recall the days of “Lost” when I would endure a hiatus and return faithfully. But I am hard-pressed to name an ABC series that wouldn’t fade from my must-see list after a few weeks.

I’d be curious to see how many viewers record a series, only to erase all episodes of said series when faced with more hours of viewing than hours in a day. This is the strange new world of altered viewing habits and fickle viewers.