10/21 Update: Nielsen has still not released the Live+7 data for the week of September 29 – October 5. I will post the new DVR lists when it becomes available.
In the first week of the new broadcast season (September 22-28), the season premiere of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy had the largest audience via DVR viewing with 4.339 million viewers via DVRs. Fox’s House was second with 3.825 million DVR viewers. Rounding out the top ten for the largest DVR audiences were Heroes, Office, Fringe, Desperate Housewives, NCIS, CSI: Miami, Bones and Two and A Half Men.
Once again, the CW’s 90210 had the largest increase from its Live viewing via DVR playback increasing 42.5%. The season premieres of NBC’s Office and Heroes were numbers 2 and 3 with increases of 39.9% and 36.9% respectively. Rounding out the top 10 for largest % increase via DVR viewing were Fringe, House, Privileged, Gossip Girl, America’s Top Model, Prison Break, and One Tree Hill.
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 | GREY’S ANATOMY | ABC | 21,158 | 16,819 | 4,339 | 25.8% |
| 2 | HOUSE | FOX | 14,632 | 10,807 | 3,825 | 35.4% |
| 3 | HEROES | NBC | 12,018 | 8,781 | 3,237 | 36.9% |
| 4 | OFFICE | NBC | 10,914 | 7,803 | 3,111 | 39.9% |
| 5 | FRINGE | FOX | 11,377 | 8,373 | 3,004 | 35.9% |
| 6 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 19,922 | 17,160 | 2,762 | 16.1% |
| 7 | NCIS | CBS | 19,357 | 16,844 | 2,513 | 14.9% |
| 8 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 18,758 | 16,610 | 2,148 | 12.9% |
| 9 | BONES | FOX | 10,832 | 8,708 | 2,124 | 24.4% |
| 10 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 15,958 | 13,884 | 2,074 | 14.9% |
| 11 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 18,122 | 16,051 | 2,071 | 12.9% |
| 12 | SURVIVOR: GABON | CBS | 13,902 | 11,868 | 2,034 | 17.1% |
| 13 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 22,156 | 20,294 | 1,862 | 9.2% |
| 14 | BROTHERS & SISTERS | ABC | 12,976 | 11,198 | 1,778 | 15.9% |
| 15 | BOSTON LEGAL | ABC | 9,953 | 8,195 | 1,758 | 21.5% |
| 16 | THE MENTALIST | CBS | 16,787 | 15,037 | 1,750 | 11.6% |
| 17 | E.R. | NBC | 9,317 | 7,593 | 1,724 | 22.7% |
| 18 | DANCING W/STARS SP-9/23 | ABC | 19,183 | 17,535 | 1,648 | 9.4% |
| 19 | LAW AND ORDER:SVU | NBC | 10,902 | 9,256 | 1,646 | 17.8% |
| 20 | AMAZING RACE 13 | CBS | 10,587 | 9,089 | 1,498 | 16.5% |
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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)
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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 | 3,525 | 2,474 | 1,051 | 42.5% |
| 2 | OFFICE | NBC | 10,914 | 7,803 | 3,111 | 39.9% |
| 3 | HEROES | NBC | 12,018 | 8,781 | 3,237 | 36.9% |
| 4 | FRINGE | FOX | 11,377 | 8,373 | 3,004 | 35.9% |
| 5 | HOUSE | FOX | 14,632 | 10,807 | 3,825 | 35.4% |
| 6 | PRIVILEGED | CW | 2,143 | 1,648 | 495 | 30.0% |
| 7 | GOSSIP GIRL | CW | 3,731 | 2,925 | 806 | 27.6% |
| 8 | AMERICA’S TOP MODEL | CW | 4,571 | 3,601 | 970 | 26.9% |
| 9 | PRISON BREAK | FOX | 6,703 | 5,289 | 1,414 | 26.7% |
| 10 | ONE TREE HILL | CW | 3,558 | 2,817 | 741 | 26.3% |
| 11 | TERMINATOR: SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES | FOX | 6,647 | 5,265 | 1,382 | 26.2% |
| 12 | GREY’S ANATOMY | ABC | 21,158 | 16,819 | 4,339 | 25.8% |
| 13 | SMALLVILLE | CW | 4,782 | 3,807 | 975 | 25.6% |
| 14 | BONES | FOX | 10,832 | 8,708 | 2,124 | 24.4% |
| 15 | MY NAME IS EARL | NBC | 7,211 | 5,805 | 1,406 | 24.2% |
| 16 | E.R. | NBC | 9,317 | 7,593 | 1,724 | 22.7% |
| 17 | SUPERNATURAL | CW | 3,619 | 2,951 | 668 | 22.6% |
| 18 | BOSTON LEGAL | ABC | 9,953 | 8,195 | 1,758 | 21.5% |
| 19 | HEROES COUNTDOWN TO PREMIERE | NBC | 6,581 | 5,431 | 1,150 | 21.2% |
| 20 | LIPSTICK JUNGLE | NBC | 7,073 | 5,913 | 1,160 | 19.6% |
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:
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data:©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
No more cable and syndicated DVR lists?
Anthony, we just didn’t have enough interest (traffic) in them to keep doing them. Sorry.
also the cable data was highly misleading due to the fact we get very little data. We see the DVR numbers for the 40 weekly cable shows which wind up having the highest *total* viewing, but there may have been *many* shows with more live+7 viewing that just didn’t make the top 40 in total viewing, so we probably were not actually reporting the most DVR’d shows for cable.
good to see Terminator up significantly through DVR.
can you post the full data….I want to see how much Ugly Betty and Big Bang added on.
Joleen, sorry but Nielsen limits us to lists of 20 so we can’t publish the full data.
How much do the dvr increases affect whether or not a show will be renewed?
@Cam: On the one hand, not much. But on the other hand, here you have the VP of Programming at Fox acknowledging that Terminator and Prison Break are strong in DVR and online numbers. So who knows.
why isn’t knight rider on this list..it’s a great show.
Knight Rider had a DVR audience of 1.123 million and a 15.9% increase not quite enough on either to make the top 20 lists.
Bill and Robert, Do you have numbers for how much each network gained overall from DVR use? Or even something like this http://tvbythenumbers.com/2007/10/16/univision-shows-almost-no-timeshifting-sept-24-30/1272
Holly, I haven’t done anything recently, but we do have the data. I’ll do something like that soon.
Thanks!
Holly, in the meanwhile you can see Bill’s post here of the Magna data. If you look at page 10 you can see the relative difference for HH rating and viewers from live, live+SD and live+7. On a household ratings basis the Live to Live + SD gain is .2 to .3 of a ratings point and the gain from live+SD to live+7 is ~ .3 to .4. it’s pretty much the same for all of the nets other than the CW.
similar information for total viewers is also there on the same page though it’s in P2 ratings points (1 = ~2.9 million)there the difference between live and live+SD was about .2 and the change from live+SD also .2. So on average, for the big four, in very round numbers live+7 is about a million higher than live with ~50% of it baked into the live+SD.
what about chucka numbers? i hear they were up quite a bit but i dont see them on the list. i love chuck such a good show
mike, Chuck didn’t air during premiere week. We won’t see the DVR numbers for Chuck’s first episode until next week.