For the week of April 7-13, NBC’s The Office returns with new episodes to lead all broadcast shows in audience % gain by time-shifting (DVR viewing). Its audience increased by 37.6% over the 7.734 million that watched it Live giving it a Live+7 audience of 10.640 million.
CW’s Beauty and The Geek, last week’s leader, was second with an increase of 26.8%. Rounding out the top 10 were 30 Rock, My Name is Earl, Survivor: Micronesia, New Amsterdam, Desperate Housewives, ER, Wednesday’s Big Brother and Tuesday’s Big Brother.
Years ago, Thursday was “Must See TV” for NBC viewers, now it’s “Must Time-Shift TV” as the entire NBC Thursday night line up [My Name is Earl, Scrubs, The Office, 30 Rock and ER] are in the top 20, and all but Scrubs are in the top 8. It’s likely that the young demo that likes those shows both has a much higher ownership of DVRs and is quite likely to be out on Thursday nights.
In total, NBC and CBS each had 6 of the top 20 time-shifted shows on a % basis.
Top 20 Most % Time-shifted Broadcast TV Shows:
|
Rank |
Programs |
Network |
Persons Live+7 (000s) |
Persons Live (000s) |
Time-shifted Audience (000s) |
% increase from Live to Live+7 |
|
1 |
OFFICE |
NBC |
10,640 | 7,734 | 2,906 | 37.6% |
|
2 |
BEAUTY AND THE GEEK-3 |
CW |
2,098 | 1,655 | 443 | 26.8% |
|
3 |
30 ROCK |
NBC |
6,419 | 5,198 | 1,221 | 23.5% |
|
4 |
MY NAME IS EARL |
NBC |
7,810 | 6,334 | 1,476 | 23.3% |
|
5 |
SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA |
CBS |
12,437 | 10,290 | 2,147 | 20.9% |
|
6 |
NEW AMSTERDAM |
FOX |
8,314 | 6,914 | 1,400 | 20.2% |
|
7 |
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES |
ABC |
17,709 | 14,768 | 2,941 | 19.9% |
|
8 |
E.R. |
NBC |
8,524 | 7,119 | 1,405 | 19.7% |
|
9 |
BIG BROTHER 9-WED |
CBS |
6,039 | 5,059 | 980 | 19.4% |
|
10 |
BIG BROTHER 9-TUE |
CBS |
6,502 | 5,457 | 1,045 | 19.1% |
|
11 |
NUMB3RS |
CBS |
10,763 | 9,048 | 1,715 | 19.0% |
|
12 |
AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY |
FOX |
26,104 | 22,044 | 4,060 | 18.4% |
|
13 |
AMERICA’S TOP MODEL-4 |
CW |
2,607 | 2,208 | 399 | 18.1% |
|
14 |
CANTERBURY’S LAW |
FOX |
5,841 | 4,953 | 888 | 17.9% |
|
15 |
ELI STONE |
ABC |
6,639 | 5,630 | 1,009 | 17.9% |
|
16 |
CRIMINAL MINDS |
CBS |
14,829 | 12,583 | 2,246 | 17.8% |
|
17 |
MEDIUM |
NBC |
12,046 | 10,262 | 1,784 | 17.4% |
|
18 |
SCRUBS |
NBC |
7,212 | 6,147 | 1,065 | 17.3% |
|
19 |
ELI STONE SP-4/13 |
ABC |
9,608 | 8,261 | 1,347 | 16.3% |
|
20 |
GHOST WHISPERER |
CBS |
9,148 | 7,888 | 1,260 | 16.0% |
“Bubble shows” Eli Stone (ABC) and New Amsterdam (Fox) again are in the top % time-shifted list, but this week are joined by the “Stick a Fork In Them” show Canterbury’s Tale. Perhaps folks wanted that last look at Canterbury before it’s gone forever.
The % Time-shifting table ranks which of the Top 150 broadcast shows [by Live+7 viewers] had the largest % increase in viewing between Live audience and Live+7 audience numbers from viewers watching shows later on their digital video recorders (DVRs).
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:15 am
NA still in the Top 10! Execs are you reading?
April 28th, 2008 at 10:36 am
I’m confused. I don’t own a DVR but it is my understanding you can fast froward tru the ads. Why would advertisers care about viewers that don’t watch their ads. Why does Nielson even bother measuring these viewers?
April 28th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Many advertisers agree with you, I’m sure. However, the networks sell the advertisers on a different measurement C+3 (commercial viewing plus 3 days of DVR usage). The networks have research that indicates that not all the commercials are fast forwarded through and that even when they are there is still retention. You’ll see lots of biometric research about that in the future, we have no doubt.
In some ways, we’re very inclined to agree with you, but both of us skip through commercials altogethe (skip button vs. fast forward), but apparently we’re in the minority on that score.
We’re glad they report the data though, we find it interesting
April 28th, 2008 at 10:52 am
My understanding is that research is showing different viewing habits between Live+SD vs. Live+7.
Live+SD audiences tend to skip ads; Live+7 audiences just want to see the shows on their own time and don’t necessarily skip ads.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Andrea, that would certainly make logical sense if it was true, but we’ve never seen any data that would allow us to make that conclusion.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
NA still in the Top 10! Execs are you reading?
April 28th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I'm confused. I don't own a DVR but it is my understanding you can fast froward tru the ads. Why would advertisers care about viewers that don't watch their ads. Why does Nielson even bother measuring these viewers?
April 28th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Many advertisers agree with you, I'm sure. However, the networks sell the advertisers on a different measurement C+3 (commercial viewing plus 3 days of DVR usage). The networks have research that indicates that not all the commercials are fast forwarded through and that even when they are there is still retention. You'll see lots of biometric research about that in the future, we have no doubt.
In some ways, we're very inclined to agree with you, but both of us skip through commercials altogethe (skip button vs. fast forward), but apparently we're in the minority on that score.
We're glad they report the data though, we find it interesting
April 28th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
My understanding is that research is showing different viewing habits between Live+SD vs. Live+7.
Live+SD audiences tend to skip ads; Live+7 audiences just want to see the shows on their own time and don't necessarily skip ads.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Andrea, that would certainly make logical sense if it was true, but we've never seen any data that would allow us to make that conclusion.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:20 am
Which is exactly why product placement is the new hot “to-do”. Eg: Coke on American Idol, Staples/Chili’s on The Office, etc. These advertisers are very interested in how many people are actually seeing their placement.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:20 am
Which is exactly why product placement is the new hot “to-do”. Eg: Coke on American Idol, Staples/Chili's on The Office, etc. These advertisers are very interested in how many people are actually seeing their placement.