American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Lost and Desperate Housewives again dominated the top of the most-viewed via DVR charts, with the top five for the week ending May 11, 2008 looking identical to the top five for the week ending May 4, 2008.
Again, Dancing with the Stars had two airings in the top five based on overall viewing did not make the top 20 in terms of DVR viewing. Those airings which were #3 and #4 overall were the 26th and 24th most DVRd shows.
Bumping LOST to 10pm certainly seems to have impacted the percentage of viewing that happens the same night. 68% of LOST’s DVR viewers could actually find the discipline to wait and watch it later. What does this mean? Not much probably, but 2.22 million people watching a show on a night other than when the show aired is more viewers than most CW shows get the nights that they do air.
And while Gossip Girl with a paltry 750K DVR viewers makes the #2 spot on the list of shows with the highest percentage increase due to DVR use, on a total DVR viewing basis it was #44. Hey it’s still better than Gossip Girl does in the overall viewing world, where on an overall household ratings basis for that week, Gossip Girl was tied for 100th.
For comparative purposes, The Office, which was #1 on a % increase basis had more DVR viewers than Gossip Girl’s total viewers. What does this mean? Also not much, except that as bad as NBC sucks lately, it still at least sucks less than the CW. Of course if that’s the best thing we can say for NBC, it should be much more ashamed than the CW. Still, fan favorite Medium joined The Office as NBC’s only shows on this list.
Top 20 DVR Broadcast Shows for the week ending May 11, 2008:
| Rank | Show | Net | Live+7 (000) | Live (000) | DVR Viewers (000) | % increase from live | Live+SD (000) | % SD |
| 1 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 22,940 | 18,871 | 4,069 | 21.6% | 21,755 | 70.88% |
| 2 | GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM | ABC | 18,166 | 14,151 | 4,015 | 28.4% | 16,027 | 46.72% |
| 3 | HOUSE-MON 9P | FOX | 15,444 | 12,103 | 3,341 | 27.6% | 13,484 | 41.33% |
| 4 | LOST | ABC | 13,003 | 9,711 | 3,292 | 33.9% | 10,782 | 32.53% |
| 5 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 17,253 | 14,043 | 3,210 | 22.9% | 15,427 | 43.12% |
| 6 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 23,548 | 20,787 | 2,761 | 13.3% | 22,867 | 75.34% |
| 7 | OFFICE | NBC | 8,561 | 5,879 | 2,682 | 45.6% | 7,157 | 47.65% |
| 8 | CSI | CBS | 19,757 | 17,280 | 2,477 | 14.3% | 18,071 | 31.93% |
| 9 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 14,523 | 12,149 | 2,374 | 19.5% | 12,881 | 30.83% |
| 10 | SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA | CBS | 13,299 | 11,063 | 2,236 | 20.2% | 12,624 | 69.81% |
| 11 | NCIS | CBS | 15,205 | 13,038 | 2,167 | 16.6% | 14,042 | 46.33% |
| 12 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 14,770 | 12,645 | 2,125 | 16.8% | 13,610 | 45.41% |
| 13 | BONES-MON 8P | FOX | 9,549 | 7,530 | 2,019 | 26.8% | 8,232 | 34.77% |
| 14 | SURVIVOR:MICRONESIA FINAL(S) | CBS | 13,416 | 11,522 | 1,894 | 16.4% | 12,978 | 76.87% |
| 15 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 15,471 | 13,650 | 1,821 | 13.3% | 14,109 | 25.21% |
| 16 | HELL’S KITCHEN | FOX | 11,892 | 10,103 | 1,789 | 17.7% | 11,004 | 50.36% |
| 17 | BROTHERS & SISTERS | ABC | 11,733 | 10,028 | 1,705 | 17.0% | 10,693 | 39.00% |
| 18 | MEDIUM | NBC | 10,637 | 8,946 | 1,691 | 18.9% | 9,574 | 37.14% |
| 19 | NUMB3RS | CBS | 10,474 | 8,874 | 1,600 | 18.0% | 9,327 | 28.31% |
| 20 | CSI: NY | CBS | 14,000 | 12,413 | 1,587 | 12.8% | 12,737 | 20.42% |
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.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
I wonder if there is any way to sort out viewers that watch the DVR'ed show the next day and ones that watch during a portion of the telecast. Like with Lost, I watch it the same night, but I wait about 20 minutes in and then start watching so I can see it commercial free.
Jake, if you were a Nielsen home, you'd count in the live plus same day results for your lost viewing, even with your time-shifting to bypass commercials. For now, based on the data we get, the best we can do is break out how many watched on DVR for the week, and of those, how many watched on DVR the same night. We have no way to segment the same day DVR viewing into “those who began watching on DVR while the show was still airing”, but I would enjoy seeing such a metric myself.
Sorry but the office TOTAL viewers NOT higher than Gossip Girl viewers for last two episodes…
We get it, u hate Gossip Girl…But there are a tonnes of fans that enjoy that show and I for one am sick and tired of ur hate against that show..
Comparing hills vs. Gossip Girl..how come u never compare Survivor vs. Lost b/c there two island shows?? It's like comparing apples vs. oranges
It's funny, when GG doing well in the last two episodes it aired..u have nothign to say but when it does bad…man u can't stop talking about it…
I don't konw what ur need to put down GG all the time is…let everyone enjoy their shows in peace….