Teen Mom OG viewers don’t seem to be tuning in to watch the long-running show like they once did, and the ratings reflect their disinterest.
On Tuesday, September 7, a new season of Teen Mom OG premiered, followed by a new season of Teen Mom: Young + Pregnant.
According to entertainment site The Ashley’s Reality Roundup, Teen Mom OG’s Season 9B premiere episode tanked. Badly.
Teen Mom OG and Young + Pregnant ratings plummet
The season opener brought in the lowest ratings for Teen Mom OG ever and Teen Mom: Young + Pregnant didn’t do much better.
Although Teen Mom OG’s viewership was better than that of Teen Mom: Young + Pregnant, the numbers were still dismal.
An all-time low of 405,000 viewers tuned in for Teen Mom OG Season 9B after following Season 9A, which fared slightly better, averaging views in the 600,000 range.
Viewership for Teen Mom OG has steadily declined over the last several seasons. The storylines of Maci Bookout, Amber Portwood, Catelynn Baltierra, Cheyenne Floyd, and Mackenzie McKee must not be piquing viewers’ interests.
Teen Mom OG, once known simply as Teen Mom, debuted in December 2009 and brought in a whopping 2.1 million views, to give an idea of just how much ratings have plummeted.
In October 2010 when the Season 2 finale of Teen Mom aired, viewership rose to 5.6 million viewers. At the time, Farrah Abraham was still part of the cast.
Ratings for the Teen Mom franchise along with feedback from fans of the show seem to indicate that viewers want the drama. When scandalous cast members like Farrah Abraham and Jenelle Evans (from Teen Mom 2) were still a part of the show, ratings soared.
Teen Mom: Young + Pregnant didn’t fare much better than Teen Mom OG, bringing in a measly 260,000 live/same-day views.
Teen Mom: Young + Pregnant’s ratings pulled in the lowest numbers of any Teen Mom franchise show ever, aside from the last episode of a Teen Mom spinoff, Teen Mom: Young Moms Club, which only lasted six episodes before being pulled.
Are Teen Mom OG viewers tired of the same old storylines?
Teen Mom OG viewers have repeatedly called for Amber Portwood to be removed from the cast of the show for her history of domestic abuse.
Another Teen Mom OG veteran, Maci Bookout, could be at fault for declining viewership as well.
Teen Mom OG fans questioned Maci’s storyline on the show now that her ex Ryan Edwards and his family have been fired from the franchise, saying that her time is up because she’s “outgrown” the show.
Without the drama of Ryan’s addiction struggles and the tension between Bentley and his father, Teen Mom OG fans wonder what else Maci’s storyline will have to offer.
And Maci herself has questioned continuing to film for Teen Mom OG in order to protect her kids from the drama.
“I think right now definitely more than ever we’re leaning more toward deciding when the right time to move on is,” Maci said in May 2021.
She added, “And if we do move on from the show would it be to stay in TV and just go a different direction? Or do we kind of want to leave TV behind for good?”
Teen Mom OG fans have also expressed that the other moms’ storylines — Mackenzie McKee, Catelylnn Baltierra, and Cheyenne Floyd — are becoming a snoozefest to watch each week.
So, is it time for the Teen Mom OG cast to move over and make way for a new crop of teen moms? It seems that the ratings speak for themselves.
Teen Mom OG airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
All episodes of Teen Mom are now streaming on Paramount+. Try it FREE!
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