Desperate Housewives zoomed to the top of the DVR Charts! OK, not the very top, but almost, coming in number two. I’m getting some flack about always giving the ladies a hard time in my Sunday overnight write-ups. Nobody said a peep when I talked about how far CSI and Grey’s Anatomy were down from last year this past Thursday. Anyway, on to the just released ancient Nielsen DVR data from over two weeks ago.
The Housewives were one of nine shows that had more than 2 million viewers during the week of April 7 - April 13, 2008. American Idol of course topped the charts, but unlike most lists it did not hold the top two slots. The most impressive show to me from a DVR perspective was of course NBC’s The Office. With more than 7 million fewer overall viewers than Desperate Housewives, it only had 30,000 fewer DVR viewers.
The Office’s Thursday night brethren My Name is Earl and ER also made the top 20 most DVR’d shows list. Note, Bill’s post ranks broadcast shows with the biggest increases due to DVR viewing, so complete bombs like Beauty and the Geek climb high, but this post ranks the shows with the *most* DVR viewing, and nary a CW show is to be found.
This week I did however add a column to indicate how much the bump from live plus same day DVR viewing to live plus seven days DVR viewing impacted the total ratings. But I didn’t find the data particularly compelling and will likely remove it next week.
I do still find the % of DVR usage that occurs the same night the show aired very interesting. As in past weeks, reality shows were more viewed in general the same night than scripted dramas. Less than 29% of those who DVR’d ER, watched it the same night the show aired. Meanwhile almost 70% of the Idol results show DVR viewing occurred the same night the show aired.
There are a couple of scripted shows with pretty healthy same day DVR viewing percentages: Desperate Housewives and The Office. I chalk that up to the “water cooler” effect. More DVR viewers of those shows want to be able to talk to their friends and co-workers about the show the next day. It’s an interesting phenomenon.
Top 20 DVR Broadcast Shows for the week ending April 13, 2008:
| Rank | Show | Net | Live+7 (millions) | Live (millions) | DVR Viewers | Live+SD (millions) | % increase from Live +SD to Live+7 | % SD Viewers of DVR total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 26.10 | 22.04 | 4.06 | 24.67 | 5.8% | 64.68% |
| 2 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 17.71 | 14.77 | 2.94 | 16.37 | 8.2% | 54.47% |
| 3 | OFFICE | NBC | 10.64 | 7.73 | 2.91 | 9.33 | 14.0% | 54.92% |
| 4 | AMER IDL THU RSLT SP-4/10(S) | FOX | 21.00 | 18.15 | 2.85 | 20.13 | 4.3% | 69.55% |
| 5 | CSI | CBS | 21.87 | 19.03 | 2.83 | 20.09 | 8.8% | 37.30% |
| 6 | IDOL GIVES BACK 2-SP 8P(S) | FOX | 18.66 | 16.36 | 2.30 | 17.75 | 5.1% | 60.48% |
| 7 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 14.83 | 12.58 | 2.25 | 13.33 | 11.2% | 33.26% |
| 8 | SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA | CBS | 12.44 | 10.29 | 2.15 | 11.59 | 7.3% | 60.55% |
| 9 | NCIS | CBS | 15.44 | 13.34 | 2.10 | 14.05 | 9.9% | 33.92% |
| 10 | MEDIUM | NBC | 12.05 | 10.26 | 1.78 | 10.86 | 10.9% | 33.52% |
| 11 | NUMB3RS | CBS | 10.76 | 9.05 | 1.72 | 9.54 | 12.8% | 28.69% |
| 12 | HELL'S KITCHEN | FOX | 12.09 | 10.44 | 1.66 | 11.21 | 7.9% | 46.68% |
| 13 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 20.33 | 18.70 | 1.62 | 19.68 | 3.3% | 60.16% |
| 14 | MY NAME IS EARL | NBC | 7.81 | 6.33 | 1.48 | 7.09 | 10.2% | 51.22% |
| 15 | CSI: NY | CBS | 13.39 | 11.93 | 1.47 | 12.38 | 8.2% | 30.92% |
| 16 | WITHOUT A TRACE | CBS | 15.44 | 14.02 | 1.42 | 14.49 | 6.6% | 33.03% |
| 17 | E.R. | NBC | 8.52 | 7.12 | 1.41 | 7.52 | 13.4% | 28.54% |
| 18 | NEW AMSTERDAM | FOX | 8.31 | 6.91 | 1.40 | 7.44 | 11.7% | 37.57% |
| 19 | ELI STONE SP-4/13(S) | ABC | 9.61 | 8.26 | 1.35 | 8.81 | 9.1% | 40.76% |
| 20 | BOSTON LEGAL | ABC | 10.49 | 9.22 | 1.27 | 9.59 | 9.4% | 28.99% |
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:58 am
I’m trying to come up with some reason why nos. 14, 17, 18 and 19 have so many DVRers in relation to their live audiences.
They are vastly different shows (the only thing I can think of is that they are up against solid competition so people watch one and record the other).
Didn’t think there were that many Earl viewers that own DVRs.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Jon, what are you implying about Earl viewers? It’s a smart show that fits well in the NBC lineup. Just because the main characters live in trailers and a motel, doesn’t mean that it’s viewers have a similar lifestyle.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I think a variety of factors drive DVR recording:
1. Age demo for a show.
2. Competitive schedule timeslot.
3. Night of the week.
4. And for the absolute DVR audience size, of course, total audience size.
Pretty much all DVR use can be explained by those factors.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
The Office completely defies #4. Which is why I am so, so impressed with its numbers.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I'm trying to come up with some reason why nos. 14, 17, 18 and 19 have so many DVRers in relation to their live audiences.
They are vastly different shows (the only thing I can think of is that they are up against solid competition so people watch one and record the other).
Didn't think there were that many Earl viewers that own DVRs.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I’m absolutely convinced that the office is the most popular show among people in my demographic.(college male) College kids just don’t watch TV live very often. So the office’s numbers are especially impressive due to the enormous internet popularity of the show. (even larger internet popularity than gossip girl) It is always at or near the top of HULU’s most popular shows. (the only way I know to measure a shows popularity on the internet)
April 28th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I would wager the Office’s actual weekly viewers is close 20 million viewers. (just a guess, I have no way to know for sure)
April 28th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I definately fall into the DVR Office for the watercooler effect. I actually got 3 people in my department watching it and am working on a 4th (she’s currently borrowing my DVD’s). We all like to talk about the show the next day at work. (And if it matters, we are all under 30, so we fit into that beloved demo.)
April 28th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
dave, We do know that as of early April, the Office had the 2nd largest % of its season to date audience between 18-49 (for broadcast shows) with 66.8%.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Jon, what are you implying about Earl viewers? It's a smart show that fits well in the NBC lineup. Just because the main characters live in trailers and a motel, doesn't mean that it's viewers have a similar lifestyle.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I think a variety of factors drive DVR recording:
1. Age demo for a show.
2. Competitive schedule timeslot.
3. Night of the week.
4. And for the absolute DVR audience size, of course, total audience size.
Pretty much all DVR use can be explained by those factors.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
In your daily summaries of the ups and downs of a show vs. last year, it is really critical to know that a significantly greater number of TV viewers have DVRs in 2008 than in 2007 or especially 2006. You can jump to assumptions that an audience is abandoning a show when you just compare Same Day Live 2008 to Same Day Live 2007. Sometimes it just means that a loyal viewer who didnt have a DVR last year now has one. Or it means, such is the case with “Lost” I suspect, that a viewer is purposefully watching it on DVR so that they can watch it more closely and uninterrupted and repeatedly rewind to follow the plot. I know viewers who specifically choose to watch “Lost” this way this year.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Rob - You inferred what I did indeed (half-jokingly) imply.
I watch Earl and I really love the writing on it (those guys will go anywhere).
I did/do think that they have a much larger portion of viewers that relate (first-hand) more to the ‘ambience’ of the show than do other shows.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
The Office completely defies #4. Which is why I am so, so impressed with its numbers.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Rob, I probably should put in some standard boilerplate anywher there are any comparisons to last year. I’m not sure the year over year increase of real DVR viewers is greater, but Nielsen’s panel went from ~9% to 21%. I’ve recently seen a report that the panel is now up to 24% DVR homes (and the same report claimed that at this time last year it was at 15%), but have not yet been able to confirm from Nielsen.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I'm absolutely convinced that the office is the most popular show among people in my demographic.(college male) College kids just don't watch TV live very often. So the office's numbers are especially impressive due to the enormous internet popularity of the show. (even larger internet popularity than gossip girl) It is always at or near the top of HULU's most popular shows. (the only way I know to measure a shows popularity on the internet)
April 28th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I would wager the Office's actual weekly viewers is close 20 million viewers. (just a guess, I have no way to know for sure)
April 28th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I definately fall into the DVR Office for the watercooler effect. I actually got 3 people in my department watching it and am working on a 4th (she's currently borrowing my DVD's). We all like to talk about the show the next day at work. (And if it matters, we are all under 30, so we fit into that beloved demo.)
April 28th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
dave, We do know that as of early April, the Office had the 2nd largest % of its season to date audience between 18-49 (for broadcast shows) with 66.8%.
April 28th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
In your daily summaries of the ups and downs of a show vs. last year, it is really critical to know that a significantly greater number of TV viewers have DVRs in 2008 than in 2007 or especially 2006. You can jump to assumptions that an audience is abandoning a show when you just compare Same Day Live 2008 to Same Day Live 2007. Sometimes it just means that a loyal viewer who didnt have a DVR last year now has one. Or it means, such is the case with “Lost” I suspect, that a viewer is purposefully watching it on DVR so that they can watch it more closely and uninterrupted and repeatedly rewind to follow the plot. I know viewers who specifically choose to watch “Lost” this way this year.
April 28th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Rob - You inferred what I did indeed (half-jokingly) imply.
I watch Earl and I really love the writing on it (those guys will go anywhere).
I did/do think that they have a much larger portion of viewers that relate (first-hand) more to the 'ambience' of the show than do other shows.
April 28th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Rob, I probably should put in some standard boilerplate anywher there are any comparisons to last year. I'm not sure the year over year increase of real DVR viewers is greater, but Nielsen's panel went from ~9% to 21%. I've recently seen a report that the panel is now up to 24% DVR homes (and the same report claimed that at this time last year it was at 15%), but have not yet been able to confirm from Nielsen.