Final Olympic Week Causes Big DVR Viewing for Olympics And Big Brother
For the week of August 18-24, the Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony had the largest absolute audience for DVR viewing (time-shifting) with 1.712 million DVR viewers. That was followed by three episodes of CBS’s Big Brother with DVR viewership of 1.653, 1.529 and 1.514 million DVR viewers. The top 10 DVR audience shows for the week were either Big Brother or the Summer Olympics except for an episode of Flashpoint at #10. Things should be very different for the next week of DVR data with no Olympics telecasts.
Three episodes of Big Brother also had, by far, the largest % audience increases from DVR viewing with 33.5%, 30.2% and 29.5% increases over the audiences that watched them Live. No other shows came close to those %’s for DVR viewing.
Largest Time-Shifting Audiences for Broadcast TV Shows:
| Rank | Programs | Network | Persons Live+7 (000s) | Persons Live (000s) | Time-shifted Audience (000s) | % increase from Live to Live+7 |
| 1 | SUM OLYM CLOSE CEREM | NBC | 28,219 | 26,507 | 1,712 | 6.5% |
| 2 | BIG BROTHER 10-SUN | CBS | 6,589 | 4,936 | 1,653 | 33.5% |
| 3 | BIG BROTHER 10-THU | CBS | 6,595 | 5,066 | 1,529 | 30.2% |
| 4 | BIG BROTHER 10-TUE | CBS | 6,638 | 5,124 | 1,514 | 29.5% |
| 5 | SUM OLYM TUE PRIME 2 | NBC | 26,981 | 25,704 | 1,277 | 5.0% |
| 6 | SUM OLYM MON PRIME 2 | NBC | 26,727 | 25,513 | 1,214 | 4.8% |
| 7 | SUM OLYM WED PRIME 2 | NBC | 25,116 | 23,977 | 1,139 | 4.8% |
| 8 | BEIJING CLOSING PARTY | NBC | 20,946 | 19,874 | 1,072 | 5.4% |
| 9 | SUM OLYM THU PRIME 2 | NBC | 22,659 | 21,715 | 944 | 4.3% |
| 10 | FLASHPOINT | CBS | 7,732 | 7,041 | 691 | 9.8% |
| 11 | SUM OLYM FRI PRIME 2 | NBC | 18,052 | 17,363 | 689 | 4.0% |
| 12 | SUM OLYM SAT PRIME 3 | NBC | 16,912 | 16,320 | 592 | 3.6% |
| 13 | GREATEST AMERICAN DOG | CBS | 5,227 | 4,707 | 520 | 11.0% |
| 14 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 8,416 | 7,943 | 473 | 6.0% |
| 15 | BONES SP-8/20 8P(S) | FOX | 4,964 | 4,572 | 392 | 8.6% |
| 16 | FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN | CW | 3,857 | 3,478 | 379 | 10.9% |
| 17 | WIPEOUT | ABC | 5,356 | 4,980 | 376 | 7.6% |
| 18 | HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL-MON | ABC | 2,227 | 1,903 | 324 | 17.0% |
| 19 | NCIS | CBS | 7,713 | 7,406 | 307 | 4.1% |
| 20 | HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER | CBS | 5,546 | 5,274 | 272 | 5.2% |
The absolute time-shifting audience size table ranks which of the Top 150 broadcast shows [by Live+7 viewers] had the largest absolute number of viewers watching shows later on their digital video recorders (DVRs)
Greatest % Increase from Time-Shifting for Broadcast TV Shows:
| Rank | Programs | Network | Persons Live+7 (000s) | Persons Live (000s) | Time-shifted Audience (000s) | % increase from Live to Live+7 |
| 1 | BIG BROTHER 10-SUN | CBS | 6,589 | 4,936 | 1,653 | 33.5% |
| 2 | BIG BROTHER 10-THU | CBS | 6,595 | 5,066 | 1,529 | 30.2% |
| 3 | BIG BROTHER 10-TUE | CBS | 6,638 | 5,124 | 1,514 | 29.5% |
| 4 | HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL-MON | ABC | 2,227 | 1,903 | 324 | 17.0% |
| 5 | GREATEST AMERICAN DOG | CBS | 5,227 | 4,707 | 520 | 11.0% |
| 6 | FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN | CW | 3,857 | 3,478 | 379 | 10.9% |
| 7 | FLASHPOINT | CBS | 7,732 | 7,041 | 691 | 9.8% |
| 8 | TERMINATOR:SCC SP-8/24 9P(S) | FOX | 2,404 | 2,193 | 211 | 9.6% |
| 9 | EV HATES CHRIS-SUN2 | CW | 752 | 691 | 61 | 8.8% |
| 10 | SUPERNATURAL | CW | 1,476 | 1,359 | 117 | 8.6% |
| 11 | BONES SP-8/20 8P(S) | FOX | 4,964 | 4,572 | 392 | 8.6% |
| 12 | TERMINATOR:SCC SP-8/18 9P(S) | FOX | 2,318 | 2,137 | 181 | 8.5% |
| 13 | WIPEOUT | ABC | 5,356 | 4,980 | 376 | 7.6% |
| 14 | REAPER | CW | 912 | 849 | 63 | 7.4% |
| 15 | BEAUTY AND THE GEEK-2-ENC | CW | 790 | 736 | 54 | 7.3% |
| 16 | SUM OLYM CLOSE CEREM(S) | NBC | 28,219 | 26,507 | 1,712 | 6.5% |
| 17 | ONE TREE HILL-MON | CW | 977 | 921 | 56 | 6.1% |
| 18 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 8,416 | 7,943 | 473 | 6.0% |
| 19 | TERMINATOR:SCC SP-8/20 9P(S) | FOX | 3,038 | 2,873 | 165 | 5.7% |
| 20 | PRIVATE PRACTICE | ABC | 3,313 | 3,135 | 178 | 5.7% |
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).
Definitions:
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
LIVE: The number that watched a program while it was broadcast.
LIVE+SD: The number that watched a program either while it was broadcast OR watched via DVR on the same day the program was broadcast.
LIVE+7: The number watched while a program was broadcast or via DVR within 7 days of original broadcast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data:©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
