For the week of September 8-14, the premiere of Fox’s Fringe had the largest audience via DVR viewing with 2.211 million viewers via DVRs. Fox also had the second and third largest audiences with Bones and Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. Rounding out the top ten for the largest DVR audiences were Tuesday and Wednesday’s Big Brother, America’s Top Model, Wednesday and Thursday’s America’s Got Talent, America’s Top Model, 90210 and Wipeout.
The CW had the two top shows for percentage increase over their Live audience with 90210 increasing 37.9% and America’s Top Model increasing 37.6%. Rounding out the top 10 for largest % increase via DVR viewing was Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, Fringe, Tuesday and Thursday’s Big Brother, Bones, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, and Privledged.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Fox and CW shows predominate in both lists. They began their season premieres this week in advance of the rest of the broadcast networks.
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 | FRINGE | FOX | 10,321 | 8,110 | 2,211 | 27.3% |
| 2 | BONES | FOX | 10,357 | 8,166 | 2,191 | 26.8% |
| 3 | TERMINATOR: SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES | FOX | 7,266 | 5,680 | 1,586 | 27.9% |
| 4 | BIG BROTHER 10-TUE | CBS | 7,318 | 5,758 | 1,560 | 27.1% |
| 5 | BIG BROTHER 10-THU | CBS | 7,887 | 6,633 | 1,254 | 18.9% |
| 6 | AMERICA’S TOP MODEL-5 | CW | 4,307 | 3,129 | 1,178 | 37.6% |
| 7 | AMERICA’S GOT TALENT-WED | NBC | 12,137 | 11,061 | 1,076 | 9.7% |
| 8 | 90210 | CW | 3,791 | 2,750 | 1,041 | 37.9% |
| 9 | WIPEOUT | ABC | 7,753 | 6,751 | 1,002 | 14.8% |
| 10 | AMERICA’S GOT TALENT 9/11 | NBC | 10,254 | 9,278 | 976 | 10.5% |
| 11 | AMERICA’S GOT TALENT | NBC | 12,056 | 11,110 | 946 | 8.5% |
| 12 | PRISON BREAK | FOX | 6,674 | 5,759 | 915 | 15.9% |
| 13 | WIPEOUT SP-9/9(S) | ABC | 7,607 | 6,706 | 901 | 13.4% |
| 14 | KITCHEN NIGHTMARES | FOX | 6,601 | 5,809 | 792 | 13.6% |
| 15 | GOSSIP GIRL-MON | CW | 3,640 | 2,888 | 752 | 26.0% |
| 16 | FRINGE ENCORE-9/14(S) | FOX | 6,198 | 5,481 | 717 | 13.1% |
| 17 | ONE TREE HILL-MON | CW | 3,631 | 2,947 | 684 | 23.2% |
| 18 | BIG BROTHER 10-SUN | CBS | 6,744 | 6,085 | 659 | 10.8% |
| 19 | DAY EARTH STOOD STILL PVW(S) | FOX | 6,039 | 5,446 | 593 | 10.9% |
| 20 | 20/20-FRI | ABC | 8,372 | 7,838 | 534 | 6.8% |
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 | 90210 | CW | 3,791 | 2,750 | 1,041 | 37.9% |
| 2 | AMERICA’S TOP MODEL-5 | CW | 4,307 | 3,129 | 1,178 | 37.6% |
| 3 | TERMINATOR: SRH CNR CHRON | FOX | 7,266 | 5,680 | 1,586 | 27.9% |
| 4 | FRINGE | FOX | 10,321 | 8,110 | 2,211 | 27.3% |
| 5 | BIG BROTHER 10-TUE | CBS | 7,318 | 5,758 | 1,560 | 27.1% |
| 6 | BONES | FOX | 10,357 | 8,166 | 2,191 | 26.8% |
| 7 | GOSSIP GIRL-MON | CW | 3,640 | 2,888 | 752 | 26.0% |
| 8 | ONE TREE HILL-MON | CW | 3,631 | 2,947 | 684 | 23.2% |
| 9 | PRIVILEGED | CW | 3,010 | 2,496 | 514 | 20.6% |
| 10 | BIG BROTHER 10-THU | CBS | 7,887 | 6,633 | 1,254 | 18.9% |
| 11 | PRISON BREAK | FOX | 6,674 | 5,759 | 915 | 15.9% |
| 12 | WIPEOUT | ABC | 7,753 | 6,751 | 1,002 | 14.8% |
| 13 | KITCHEN NIGHTMARES | FOX | 6,601 | 5,809 | 792 | 13.6% |
| 14 | WIPEOUT SP-9/9(S) | ABC | 7,607 | 6,706 | 901 | 13.4% |
| 15 | FRINGE ENCORE-9/14(S) | FOX | 6,198 | 5,481 | 717 | 13.1% |
| 16 | OFFICE 9:30 9/11(S) | NBC | 4,669 | 4,174 | 495 | 11.9% |
| 17 | DAY EARTH STOOD STILL PVW(S) | FOX | 6,039 | 5,446 | 593 | 10.9% |
| 18 | BIG BROTHER 10-SUN | CBS | 6,744 | 6,085 | 659 | 10.8% |
| 19 | AMERICA’S GOT TALENT 9/11(S) | NBC | 10,254 | 9,278 | 976 | 10.5% |
| 20 | 90210-ENC | CW | 2,403 | 2,178 | 225 | 10.3% |
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.
September 29th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I think the fact that the Fringe same-week repeat made it on this list is kind of impressive, if a bit perplexing.
Oh, and either your title is wrong or your numbers are. 90210, not ANTM had the greatest increase.
September 29th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Holly, as usual, the mistake (now corrected) was mine!
The Fringe repeat appearing on the list is interesting indeed. That plus the relatively high Live viewership of the repeat (68% of the premiere) indicates to me that the premiere either (a) snuck past a lot of people despite all of Fox’s promotion, or (b) it got some moster buzz in between those dates.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
How do they determine the dvr increase, is it a sample, or actual data recieved and added on to the neilson results?
September 29th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
everything from Nielsen is based on their panel (a sample).
September 29th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Jackson, for Nielsen families, Nielsen measures their actual viewing of the show, whenever they watch it Live or via DVR.
Nielsen reports to the press the numbers for Live Viewing, Live + Same Day (up to 3am the next day), and Live + 7 day viewing.
I calculate the percentage increase with this equation:
((Live+7)-(Live))/Live = % increase
Nielsen used to do the same calculations themselves and report them to the press, but they stopped doing so (at least where we can see it) about a year ago.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
So, viewing a recorded show on my Tivo isn’t contributing to these DVR numbers? It’s only Nielson families?
September 29th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Jim, you are correct.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Correct. Nielsen’s numbers are based only on their sample. TIVO also reports shows recorded, but those numbers only reflect what TIVO subscribers are recording, not everyone with a DVR. In general, advertisers may look at the TIVO numbers, but they’ll make decisions based more on the Nielsen’s numbers.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
This may be one of those “it’s just too much work” things, but… Last spring you started including the Live+Same Day ratings with the DVR numbers so we could see the increase from the numbers we get here on a daily basis. Is that possible or not worth the effort?
September 29th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
When I produced it, I included the % of DVR viewing that was same day. I think it’s worth it, and not that much work in terms of calculating it (whether it’s worth it or not is…subjective). But there are formatting issues too that are somewhat easier for me to handle than Bill.
When I published them I reported % increase over live just as they are above. I only showed what % of the DVR viewing happened the same day. You can’t calculate the total dvr viewing population without using the live number, but I would agree ideally the increase would be versus live+SD since they’re published everywhere. This is the only place “live” numbers are used and it does cause some confusion. But I do think it’s important to report “total DVR” viewing.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
And Terminator continues with a huge DVR audience. Thirty percent watching time-shifted has to be giving FOX executives fits. It’s like the live audience dropped two million from last season, but the DVR audience only dropped 200,000. Weird.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
FrankJ, You’re comparing last season’s Live+SD numbers to this years Live+7 numbers; hardly an equal comparision. On the last two Mondays TSCC aired last spring, it had around 2 million DVR viewers each day. So, even with DVR viewers added in, it has still lost a LOT of viewers year-to-year.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I’m willing to bet at least half those DVR numbers from Terminator are viewers who watch Monday Night Football live.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Holly, I’m comparing Live+SD to Live+SD. Last year the finale had Live+SD numbers of 8 million for the two hour finale (7.75 Vick’s Chip/8.29 What He Beheld). This season’s premiere had 6.343 million Live+SD. That’s about a two million person difference.
The DVR numbers for last season were fairly consistent at 1.8 million time-shifted viewers, and this season so far has 1.586 million, which is about a 200,000 viewer drop.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
FrankJ, Ok, I see what you mean. I misinterpreted your earlier post. Sorry
September 29th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Bill you do a fantastic job here. Keep up the good work my friend.
Been a bit worried about the ratings for PB as this season definately deserves more viewers. Even some of the hate-happy-critics love it. Are the DVR numbers strong for it? Last week i saw for the premier it was third in DVR viewings.
September 29th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Bill, I’m curious, is it possible to see the 18-49yr/18-34yr demo breakdown for DVR viewers? Does Nielsen provide those numbers to the networks? Once you start getting into the millions for time-shifted viewing I’d imagine that could really start to change the ratings share.
September 29th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Frank, we may look at the DVR numbers differently than our readers. In this regard, the live numbers published here are probably very closely looked at by network execs. We view DVR viewing as bad, not good, for the television networks.
Sure, they’ll use the numbers in press releases because they look bigger, but when it comes to selling ads, they are bad for the networks. While the networks will launch a crusade to cultivate the notion that people actually watch the DVR ads, the networks surely view it as a good thing that the # of DVR homes is not growing that rapidly.
the demographic data for DVR viewing likely exists, but we do not have access to it.
September 29th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Anthony, it’s hard to call the DVR viewing levels for Prison Break “strong” or “weak”. A 16% increase over its Live viewing is a little above what was average for the English broadcast networks last year (11% as of May when I did the calculations).
My guess is that we will see overall DVR viewing rise this season. We’ll have overall network numbers we can do the DVR math with in 2 weeks.
September 29th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Ah okay. Yeah, I would totally concur the network executives don’t like them because of the impact on ads. I understand the love/hate relationship they’re dealing with. I would hope though that if say FOX found out a large percentage of the 18-49yr demo was recording Terminator, they might be more apt to try to do something about that and get those viewers to tune in live rather than just discount the time-shifted viewers as a lost cause.
September 29th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Frank, you seemed like someone who could use some silver lining. I won’t see the data for the 9/22 episode until tomorrow, but the 9/15 episode of TSCC led among men 18-34, and excluding “Al Diablo con los Guapos” on Univision (which did just a tenth of a point better) it was ahead of the rest of the field both in its hour and for the night by a fairly large margin. There was Monday Night Football that night, but there were not any new shows on CBS and ABC, so the data we should see tomorrow for 9/22 will be more telling.
September 29th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I hope Fox’s Terminator series stays on the air, as I think its a really good show. It one I DVR and watch a few days later every week!
September 29th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Thanks for the info, Robert. That does appear to be at least some kind of good news. Curious to hear how the 9/22 episode did, as that went against the Heroes “recap” (though NBC tried to make it sound like it would be a three hour premiere) and new comedies.
September 30th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Do networks take these DVR’s 7days viewing into considoration?
September 30th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Dexter, while some (the CW) issue press releases bragging about their shows levels of DVR viewing, we don’t think that the Live+7 numbers mean that much to the networks in terms of revenue. We believe that the Live+SD numbers are more likely related to the success or failure of each show.