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Rob Kardashian And Blac Chyna Reveal They're Expecting A Baby Girl, Because Ratings Matter

Will a new spinoff help the Kardashians' flailing franchise?
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In true Kardashian fashion, Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna kicked off their new reality show, “Rob & Chyna,” with a big reveal ― they’re expecting a baby girl.

Congrats guys, and definitely take Scott Disick’s brilliant advice to name her Kim.

Though the Kardashians share what seems like every waking moment of their lives on social media, they know to keep the important stuff for when it counts ― because, hey, ratings matter.

Kim Kardashian did her sisterly duty and tried to hype the reveal on Twitter ahead of the premiere, but it’s still too early to tell if the obvious ratings ploy worked.

And the big announcements and dramatic moments the Kardashians have become known for aren’t working as well as they used to.

More than 4 million people watched Kim marry Kris Humphries in 2011 and 4.5 million watched as she bawled on the spinoff “Kourtney and Kim Take New York,” when she decided to end that marriage.

Those were huge viewership numbers the reality show hasn’t been able to maintain. Consider that 3 million viewers tuned into the Season 8 premiere of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” when Kim revealed that she and Kanye West were expecting a baby girl, while just over 2 million watched as Kourtney announced she was pregnant with her third child in Season 9. Meanwhile, ratings continued to drop, even as Kim revealed she was pregnant again on the Season 10 mid-season finale.

The Kardashians are now in the midst of their lowest-rated season ever, averaging close to 1.5 million viewers an episode ― with a recent episode in late August plunging to about 866,000 viewers (the MTV VMAs were on that night as well).

It’s clear that interest in the flagship series is waning, but we’ll have to wait for tonight’s ratings to come back before we know if there’s a future for “Rob & Chyna” in television.