Idol, Grey’s, House, Lost, Desperate Housewives and The Office Lead Total DVR Viewing

May 19th, 2008 by Robert Seidman

$NBC\'s The Office$ After American Idol in the top spot, Grey’s Anatomy, House, LOST, Desperate Housewives and The Office were the most DVR viewed shows for the week ending May 4, 2008. The Office’s DVR viewing is still amazing to me. Consider that the show ahead of it (Desperate Housewives) had 9+ million more viewers but The Office only had 35,000 fewer DVR viewers. And with 14+ million fewer viewers than CSI it had almost 200K more DVR viewers.

As ever, the % of DVR viewing that comes the same night that the shows aired was higher for unscripted program than scripted programming. I’ve dubbed any scripted show with over 50% of its viewing occurring the same day as the “Water Cooler” shows, and LOST is losing its “must talk about it at work the next day” status. Even though 33% of its overall viewing is coming via DVR, only 31% of that DVR viewing occurred the same night it aired.

The water cooler shows for the week were Desperate Housewives, and The Office, and that’s it! If I lowered the bar to 40% same day DVR viewing, House, Grey’s Anatomy, Two and a Half Men, NCIS, Bones, Brothers & Sisters and How I Met Your Mother would all make the list. CSI: Miami is definitely not water cooler material. While almost two million DVR the show, only slightly more than one out of five who watch on DVR watch it the same night. CSI: Miami and Law & Order: SVU are must DVR for many, but the least water cooler-y of any scripted shows on this list.

CBS is the king of “must DVR” shows, with eight shows on this list, followed by FOX with five, ABC with four and NBC with three.

While only one show on cable (at least not via numbers we have access to) usually tops the one million DVR mark (The Hills), thirty-eight broadcast shows had a million or more DVR viewers, including #38, Moonlight, with 1.004 million!

Top 20 DVR Broadcast Shows for the week ending May 4, 2008:

Rank	Show	Net	Live+7 (000)	Live (000)	DVR Viewers (000)	% increase from live	Live+SD (000)	% SD
1	AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY	FOX	26,248	22,411	3,837	17.1%	25,094	69.92%
2	GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM	ABC	17,522	13,819	3,703	26.8%	15,313	40.35%
3	HOUSE-MON 9P	FOX	16,754	13,232	3,522	26.6%	14,641	40.01%
4	LOST	ABC	12,946	9,715	3,231	33.3%	10,726	31.29%
5	DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES	ABC	18,016	15,344	2,672	17.4%	16,757	52.88%
6	OFFICE	NBC	8,929	6,292	2,637	41.9%	7,752	55.37%
7	AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY	FOX	23,656	21,080	2,576	12.2%	22,800	66.77%
8	CSI	CBS	19,497	17,115	2,382	13.9%	18,012	37.66%
9	SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA	CBS	13,214	10,920	2,294	21.0%	12,320	61.03%
10	CRIMINAL MINDS	CBS	14,384	12,214	2,170	17.8%	13,030	37.60%
11	TWO AND A HALF MEN	CBS	14,052	11,940	2,112	17.7%	12,915	46.16%
12	NCIS	CBS	15,860	13,773	2,087	15.2%	14,763	47.44%
13	BONES-MON 8P	FOX	10,905	8,906	1,999	22.4%	9,799	44.67%
14	CSI: MIAMI	CBS	15,399	13,448	1,951	14.5%	13,880	22.14%
15	LAW AND ORDER:SVU	NBC	13,727	11,867	1,860	15.7%	12,313	23.98%
16	HELL’S KITCHEN	FOX	12,799	10,980	1,819	16.6%	11,940	52.78%
17	MEDIUM	NBC	10,788	9,008	1,780	19.8%	9,683	37.92%
18	BROTHERS & SISTERS	ABC	11,462	9,739	1,723	17.7%	10,463	42.02%
19	NUMB3RS	CBS	11,491	9,921	1,570	15.8%	10,328	25.92%
20	HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER	CBS	9,710	8,146	1,564	19.2%	8,844	44.63%

This table ranks broadcast shows with the most absolute DVR viewing. For a list of the top twenty shows with the highest % increases due to DVR viewing check out this post.

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