The results for the week ending March 2, 2008 LIVE+7 (live viewing plus 7 days worth of DVR viewing) are out and LOST was again the most watched program via DVR with almost 4 million watching via DVR. LOST also had the highest viewership increase (36.1%) as a result of DVR viewing.
As Bill Gorman noted elsewhere, LOST currently airs in broadcast TV’s most competitive hour, Thursdays at 9pm, so a lot of DVR viewers is no big surprise. For longtime LOST fans, DVR viewing may just make sense – there’s a lot going on in the show. Viewing via DVR allows you to rewind when you have one of those “Huh!?” moments.
This week I’ve added to Bill’s data the LIVE+SD (live plus same day DVR viewing, up to 3am the morning after a show airs) and the % of overall DVR viewing that happened on the same day. The results seem to indicate that with unscripted programming/reality shows most of the DVR viewing (over half) takes place the same night the shows air. I’d speculate that there is a lot of time displacement going on merely to be able to avoid ever having to view commercials.
For all three American Idol airings, Survivor: Micronesia, and all three airings of Big Brother and Oprah’s Big Give, more than 60% of the DVR viewing occurred the night the shows aired. This trend doesn’t seem to extend to NBC where Celebrity Apprentice (42.9% of DVR viewing occurred the same night) and the Biggest Loser (43.5% of DVR viewing occurred the same night) both were under 50%.
Of scripted content, LOST by far and away had the most DVR usage the same night the show aired (47.1%). Medium was the next closest at 34.1%. The trend seems to be people push scripted programming out later in the week. Indeed, only 29.5% of DVR viewing for Jericho happened the same night the show aired. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles DVR numbers were steady the week before the two part finale, but only 30.4% of DVR viewing occurred on the same night.
About the only other surprise to me on this list was Tyra Banks. Her America’s Next Top Model is struggling this year, but it still is doing well over 4 million viewers for the CW when you add in DVR viewing, 53% of which occurs the same night the show airs. I suppose I am also at least a little surprised that outside of American Idol, only 2 shows had more than two million viewers via DVR (LOST, and Survivor).
For more information and a table of the top 20 shows with the highest % increase due to DVR viewing, check out Bill Gorman’s post.
Top 20 Most DVRd Shows for the week ending March 2, 2008:
| Rank | Shows | Net | Persons Live+7 (000) | Persons Live (000) | DVR Viewers | %Increase Over Live | Persons Live+SD (000) | %SD of Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LOST | ABC | 14,998 | 11,020 | 3,978 | 36.1% | 12,893 | 47.1% |
| 2 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 30,009 | 26,166 | 3,843 | 14.7% | 28,592 | 63.1% |
| 3 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 28,776 | 25,088 | 3,688 | 14.7% | 27,553 | 66.8% |
| 4 | AMERICAN IDOL THU SP-2/28(S) | FOX | 27,246 | 23,769 | 3,477 | 14.6% | 26,232 | 70.8% |
| 5 | SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA | CBS | 13,447 | 11,112 | 2,335 | 21.0% | 12,529 | 60.7% |
| 6 | TERMINATOR: SRH CNR CHRON | FOX | 8,371 | 6,569 | 1,802 | 27.4% | 7,117 | 30.4% |
| 7 | MEDIUM | NBC | 8,610 | 7,087 | 1,523 | 21.5% | 7,606 | 34.1% |
| 8 | APPRENTICE 7 | NBC | 8,518 | 7,030 | 1,488 | 21.2% | 7,668 | 42.9% |
| 9 | BIG BROTHER 9-WED | CBS | 5,853 | 4,422 | 1,431 | 32.4% | 5,381 | 67.0% |
| 10 | LAW AND ORDER | NBC | 12,398 | 11,049 | 1,349 | 12.2% | 11,437 | 28.8% |
| 11 | BIGGEST LOSER 5 | NBC | 8,230 | 6,893 | 1,337 | 19.4% | 7,474 | 43.5% |
| 12 | BIG BROTHER 9-SUN | CBS | 6,612 | 5,279 | 1,333 | 25.3% | 6,230 | 71.3% |
| 13 | LIPSTICK JUNGLE | NBC | 6,549 | 5,251 | 1,298 | 24.7% | 5,606 | 27.3% |
| 14 | JERICHO | CBS | 7,811 | 6,521 | 1,290 | 19.8% | 6,901 | 29.5% |
| 15 | ELI STONE | ABC | 8,117 | 6,852 | 1,265 | 18.5% | 7,147 | 23.3% |
| 16 | BIG BROTHER 9-TUE | CBS | 7,204 | 5,960 | 1,244 | 20.9% | 6,718 | 60.9% |
| 17 | BACK TO YOU SP-2/26 9:30P(S) | FOX | 12,729 | 11,790 | 939 | 8.0% | 12,154 | 38.8% |
| 18 | AMERICAS TOP MODEL-4 | CW | 4,256 | 3,325 | 931 | 28.0% | 3,820 | 53.2% |
| 19 | MOMENT OF TRUTH 2/25-8P(S) | FOX | 8,888 | 7,989 | 899 | 11.3% | 8,511 | 58.1% |
| 20 | OPRAHS BIG GIVE | ABC | 16,023 | 15,146 | 877 | 5.8% | 15,680 | 60.9% |
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Well at least Jericho is in the top 20 of DVR veiws, I’m still not sure it will be enough.
March 18th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Well at least Jericho is in the top 20 of DVR veiws, I'm still not sure it will be enough.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
It would be great if you guys could post Jericho’s LIVE+7 ratings and SD’s for the 7-episodes season so we can actually see how many people are tuning in instead of just using the overnights and SD’s. There’s still hope.
March 18th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
It would be great if you guys could post Jericho's LIVE+7 ratings and SD's for the 7-episodes season so we can actually see how many people are tuning in instead of just using the overnights and SD's. There's still hope.