Note: DVR viewing numbers for the week of October 6-12 are delayed. I hope no later than Tuesday. I will post them when available.
For the week of September 29 – October 5, Fox’s Fall 18-49 demo king House had the largest audience via DVR viewing with 3.583 million viewers via DVRs. NBC’s Heroes was second with a DVR viewing audience of 2.903 million. Rounding out the top ten for the largest DVR audiences were Desperate Housewives, Fringe, NCIS, Survivor:Gabon, Bones, Criminal Minds, Two and A Half Men and CSI:Miami.
The CW’s 90210 had the top show for percentage increase over their Live audience increasing 41.1% in Live+7 viewing. Rounding out the top 10 for largest % increase via DVR viewing were Heroes, House, Privileged, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, Fringe, Prison Break, Gossip Girl and America’s Top Model.
Although we know now that DVR viewing past the airdate is entirely meaningless to the show’s advertising revenue and likely its ultimate success, we like seeing the trends regardless.
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 | HOUSE | FOX | 14,962 | 11,379 | 3,583 | 31.5% |
| 2 | HEROES | NBC | 11,124 | 8,221 | 2,903 | 35.3% |
| 3 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 17,090 | 14,207 | 2,883 | 20.3% |
| 4 | FRINGE | FOX | 11,721 | 8,997 | 2,724 | 30.3% |
| 5 | NCIS | CBS | 18,678 | 16,172 | 2,506 | 15.5% |
| 6 | SURVIVOR: GABON | CBS | 14,052 | 11,777 | 2,275 | 19.3% |
| 7 | BONES | FOX | 11,201 | 8,972 | 2,229 | 24.8% |
| 8 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 16,094 | 13,896 | 2,198 | 15.8% |
| 9 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 14,636 | 12,595 | 2,041 | 16.2% |
| 10 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 15,878 | 13,851 | 2,027 | 14.6% |
| 11 | THE MENTALIST | CBS | 16,769 | 14,772 | 1,997 | 13.5% |
| 12 | PRIVATE PRACTICE | ABC | 9,224 | 7,375 | 1,849 | 25.1% |
| 13 | AMAZING RACE 13 | CBS | 11,548 | 9,912 | 1,636 | 16.5% |
| 14 | BROTHERS & SISTERS | ABC | 11,325 | 9,709 | 1,616 | 16.6% |
| 15 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 19,572 | 17,969 | 1,603 | 8.9% |
| 16 | GHOST WHISPERER | CBS | 10,309 | 8,766 | 1,543 | 17.6% |
| 17 | LAW AND ORDER:SVU | NBC | 11,502 | 9,984 | 1,518 | 15.2% |
| 18 | BOSTON LEGAL | ABC | 9,544 | 8,070 | 1,474 | 18.3% |
| 19 | CHUCK | NBC | 7,600 | 6,136 | 1,464 | 23.9% |
| 20 | TERMINATOR: SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES | FOX | 6,195 | 4,740 | 1,455 | 30.7% |
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 | 3,801 | 2,694 | 1,107 | 41.1% |
| 2 | HEROES | NBC | 11,124 | 8,221 | 2,903 | 35.3% |
| 3 | HOUSE | FOX | 14,962 | 11,379 | 3,583 | 31.5% |
| 4 | PRIVILEGED | CW | 2,212 | 1,692 | 520 | 30.7% |
| 5 | TERMINATOR: SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES | FOX | 6,195 | 4,740 | 1,455 | 30.7% |
| 6 | FRINGE | FOX | 11,721 | 8,997 | 2,724 | 30.3% |
| 7 | PRISON BREAK | FOX | 6,008 | 4,671 | 1,337 | 28.6% |
| 8 | GOSSIP GIRL | CW | 3,794 | 2,961 | 833 | 28.1% |
| 9 | AMERICA’S TOP MODEL | CW | 4,459 | 3,489 | 970 | 27.8% |
| 10 | LIPSTICK JUNGLE | NBC | 6,357 | 5,022 | 1,335 | 26.6% |
| 11 | SUPERNATURAL | CW | 4,049 | 3,217 | 832 | 25.9% |
| 12 | PRIVATE PRACTICE | ABC | 9,224 | 7,375 | 1,849 | 25.1% |
| 13 | BONES | FOX | 11,201 | 8,972 | 2,229 | 24.8% |
| 14 | ONE TREE HILL | CW | 3,791 | 3,037 | 754 | 24.8% |
| 15 | SMALLVILLE | CW | 4,614 | 3,701 | 913 | 24.7% |
| 16 | CHUCK | NBC | 7,600 | 6,136 | 1,464 | 23.9% |
| 17 | LIFE | NBC | 6,373 | 5,248 | 1,125 | 21.4% |
| 18 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 17,090 | 14,207 | 2,883 | 20.3% |
| 19 | PUSHING DAISIES | ABC | 6,893 | 5,755 | 1,138 | 19.8% |
| 20 | SURVIVOR: GABON | CBS | 14,052 | 11,777 | 2,275 | 19.3% |
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:
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.
Do TV officials look at information like this? So does that Mean that t:SCC is in the clear?
I too love seeing the trends of the Live+7 results. It took a lot of Google trial and error before I found your site, and the time-shifted charts are exactly what I was looking for. Guess I took the scenic route to say,
Thanks for posting these every week.
Knowing full well advertisers treat Live+7 viewing as one would treat the musky sponge which fell underneath the sink a few weeks back, I think Networks tout the DVR results for the sake of publicity, and getting their shows circulating in the media in hopes to attract new and stray viewers. After all, we all love good news about our favorites show, and Heroes being the #2 most recorded show of the week has me excited.
My God! Heroes ratings do actually look decent when DVR numbers are added.
JP, I think TV officials look at the information, but it’s not important to advertising sales and so as Kyle suggests, it’s treated like a musky sponge that fell underneath the sink by advertisers (the musky sponge may even get better treatment!). I believe Kyle C is absolutely right about how and why the numbers are used and we find them interesting both from a numbers point of view and how they will surely ultimately change the business (model).
I dont really understand these.
Is Pushing Daisies doing good? 19th place, no good right?
Anil, the results that matter for the long term health of a show are its adults 18-49 ratings, which we post weekly.
The number of DVR viewers is interesting from a number of different perspectives as Robert wrote, but its not going to be a make or break number for any shows.
90210 with a 41.4% is actually very good for the network. Especially considering it’s on the CW.
It doesn’t effect advertising revenue — right, because people watching on DVR are FFing through the commercials. But what about product placement? Especially for the CW shows, a few lower rated shows like ‘Life’ and ‘Chuck’ — which are all on the % list — people care enough to record and watch — maybe they pause and notice too.
Mel, our understanding is that time spent fast forwarding through commercials does not count in the metrics Nielsen provides that advertisers pay based on (C+3 ratings). I honestly don’t have enough insight on the way product placement is sold to know if it matters, but it seems to me that the DVR viewing within seven days would be as valuable from the product placement perspective as live viewing.