I still haven’t seen weekly Live+7 program numbers for either November 17-23 or November 24-30 from Nielsen, but strangely we do have season to date (STD) numbers through November 30, so this post is different than most of our DVR posts in that it contains season to date DVR viewing data not weekly viewing data. Regular readers will note the “Most Current” column instead of the typical “Live+7″ column. “Most Current” DVR data includes all the available weeks of Live+7 data plus the more recent weeks Live+SD data.
As it does most often on a weekly basis, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy has the largest season to date audience via DVR viewing with an average of 3.809 million viewers via DVRs. Fox’s House was second with a season to date DVR viewing audience of 2.975 million. Rounding out the top ten for the largest DVR audiences were Office, CSI, Desperate Housewives, Heroes, Survivor:Gabon, NCIS, Fringe, and Criminal Minds.
NBC’s Office was the top show for largest share of season to date (STD) viewing via DVR with 28.0% of its total season to date Live+7 audience coming via DVR viewing. Rounding out the top 10 for largest audience share via DVR viewing were 90210, Heroes, Lipstick Jungle, America’s Top Model, House, Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles and Fringe.
Another slight change to the presentation of the data. Beginning this week I will be calculating the “% of DVR viewing done on the airdate” in the right most column. Robert’s a fan of it, and it may well provide some interesting insights. I’m going to look at DVR viewing by show vs. telecast hour in detail soon, but the top shows for same day % of DVR viewing are all in unscripted shows prior to 10pm: Survivor: Gabon, Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars. The shows with the least % of DVR viewing on the same day are all 10pm shows: CSI:Miami, ER, and Lipstick Jungle, although Bones and Privileged don’t exactly fit that pattern.
Those of you interested in DVR viewing numbers might enjoy Doing My Part To Combat DVR Misinformation.
Largest Season to Date DVR Audiences for Broadcast TV Shows:
| Rank | Programs | Net | Persons Most Current (000s) | Persons Live+SD (000s) | Persons Live (000s) | Same Day DVR Viewers (000s) | Most Current DVR Viewers (000s) | % of All Viewing By DVR | % of DVR Viewing On Airdate |
| 1 | GREY’S ANATOMY | ABC | 18,054 | 15,943 | 14,245 | 1,698 | 3,809 | 21.1% | 44.6% |
| 2 | HOUSE | FOX | 13,999 | 12,596 | 11,024 | 1,572 | 2,975 | 21.3% | 52.8% |
| 3 | OFFICE | NBC | 10,083 | 8,788 | 7,261 | 1,527 | 2,822 | 28.0% | 54.1% |
| 4 | CSI | CBS | 21,285 | 19,599 | 18,468 | 1,131 | 2,817 | 13.2% | 40.1% |
| 5 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 17,416 | 16,212 | 14,732 | 1,480 | 2,684 | 15.4% | 55.1% |
| 6 | HEROES | NBC | 10,017 | 8,665 | 7,480 | 1,185 | 2,537 | 25.3% | 46.7% |
| 7 | SURVIVOR: GABON | CBS | 13,700 | 12,918 | 11,468 | 1,450 | 2,232 | 16.3% | 65.0% |
| 8 | NCIS | CBS | 18,670 | 17,699 | 16,527 | 1,172 | 2,143 | 11.5% | 54.7% |
| 9 | FRINGE | FOX | 10,342 | 9,125 | 8,225 | 900 | 2,117 | 20.5% | 42.5% |
| 10 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 16,302 | 15,189 | 14,313 | 876 | 1,989 | 12.2% | 44.0% |
| 11 | BONES | FOX | 11,031 | 10,055 | 9,042 | 1,013 | 1,989 | 18.0% | 50.9% |
| 12 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 14,965 | 14,136 | 13,158 | 978 | 1,807 | 12.1% | 54.1% |
| 13 | MENTALIST, THE | CBS | 16,722 | 15,721 | 14,949 | 772 | 1,773 | 10.6% | 43.5% |
| 14 | 30 ROCK | NBC | 8,753 | 7,875 | 7,008 | 867 | 1,745 | 19.9% | 49.7% |
| 15 | AMAZING RACE 13 | CBS | 11,008 | 10,532 | 9,471 | 1,061 | 1,537 | 14.0% | 69.0% |
| 16 | BROTHERS & SISTERS | ABC | 11,108 | 10,200 | 9,580 | 620 | 1,528 | 13.8% | 40.6% |
| 17 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 14,950 | 13,905 | 13,439 | 466 | 1,511 | 10.1% | 30.8% |
| 18 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 19,666 | 19,148 | 18,164 | 984 | 1,502 | 7.6% | 65.5% |
| 19 | GHOST WHISPERER | CBS | 10,982 | 10,188 | 9,498 | 690 | 1,484 | 13.5% | 46.5% |
| 20 | E.R. | NBC | 9,987 | 9,000 | 8,510 | 490 | 1,477 | 14.8% | 33.2% |
The largest DVR audience size table ranks which of the Top 150 broadcast shows [by Live+7 viewers] had the largest absolute number of viewers watching shows at any time on their digital video recorders (DVRs) for the season to date through November 30, 2008.
Season To Date Greatest % Of Overall Viewing By DVR for Broadcast TV Shows:
| Rank | Programs | Net | Persons Most Current (000s) | Persons Live+SD (000s) | Persons Live (000s) | Same Day DVR Viewers (000s) | Most Current DVR Viewers (000s) | % of All Viewing By DVR | % of DVR Viewing On Airdate |
| 1 | OFFICE | NBC | 10,083 | 8,788 | 7,261 | 1,527 | 2,822 | 28.0% | 54.1% |
| 2 | 90210 | CW | 3,576 | 3,086 | 2,645 | 441 | 931 | 26.0% | 47.4% |
| 3 | HEROES | NBC | 10,017 | 8,665 | 7,480 | 1,185 | 2,537 | 25.3% | 46.7% |
| 4 | LIPSTICK JUNGLE | NBC | 5,122 | 4,298 | 3,979 | 319 | 1,143 | 22.3% | 27.9% |
| 5 | AMERICA’S TOP MODEL-5 | CW | 4,345 | 3,951 | 3,395 | 556 | 950 | 21.9% | 58.5% |
| 6 | HOUSE | FOX | 13,999 | 12,596 | 11,024 | 1,572 | 2,975 | 21.3% | 52.8% |
| 7 | GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM | ABC | 18,054 | 15,943 | 14,245 | 1,698 | 3,809 | 21.1% | 44.6% |
| 8 | GOSSIP GIRL-MON | CW | 3,456 | 3,108 | 2,732 | 376 | 724 | 20.9% | 51.9% |
| 9 | TERMINATOR: SRH CNR CHRON | FOX | 6,064 | 5,395 | 4,796 | 599 | 1,268 | 20.9% | 47.2% |
| 10 | FRINGE | FOX | 10,342 | 9,125 | 8,225 | 900 | 2,117 | 20.5% | 42.5% |
| 11 | 30 ROCK | NBC | 8,753 | 7,875 | 7,008 | 867 | 1,745 | 19.9% | 49.7% |
| 12 | SMALLVILLE | CW | 4,696 | 4,168 | 3,765 | 403 | 931 | 19.8% | 43.3% |
| 13 | PRISON BREAK | FOX | 6,306 | 5,682 | 5,098 | 584 | 1,208 | 19.2% | 48.3% |
| 14 | PRIVILEGED | CW | 2,191 | 1,916 | 1,772 | 144 | 419 | 19.1% | 34.4% |
| 15 | CHUCK | NBC | 7,129 | 6,543 | 5,808 | 735 | 1,321 | 18.5% | 55.6% |
| 16 | SUPERNATURAL | CW | 3,765 | 3,332 | 3,078 | 254 | 687 | 18.2% | 37.0% |
| 17 | BONES | FOX | 11,031 | 10,055 | 9,042 | 1,013 | 1,989 | 18.0% | 50.9% |
| 18 | LIFE | NBC | 6,362 | 5,614 | 5,221 | 393 | 1,141 | 17.9% | 34.4% |
| 19 | ONE TREE HILL-MON | CW | 3,444 | 3,150 | 2,831 | 319 | 613 | 17.8% | 52.0% |
| 20 | PRIVATE PRACTICE | ABC | 8,571 | 7,766 | 7,098 | 668 | 1,473 | 17.2% | 45.3% |
The % of Total viewing by DVR table ranks which of the Top 150 broadcast shows [by Live+7 viewers] had the largest % of viewing by DVR in their Live+7 audience numbers from viewers watching shows later on their digital video recorders (DVRs) for the season to date through November 30, 2008.
Definitions:
DVR 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.
Same Day DVR Viewers – The number of average viewers by DVR on the airdate and until 3am the following day.
Live+7 DVR Viewers – The number of average viewers by DVR within 7 days of the airdate.
% of Viewing via DVR – The percentage of ALL viewing of a program that occurred via DVR within 7 days of the airdate.
% of DVR Viewing on Airdate - The percentage of DVR viewing of a program on the airdate and until 3am the following day.
For more information see Numbers 101.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data:©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Go 30 ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well it looks like Heroes is still popular. 25% dvr it…wow.
Do you have the season to date numbers for Life on Mars? Thanks.
Here are the Life on Mars numbers, same column headings as above:
LIFE ON MARS ABC 9,523 8,599 8,212 387 1,311 13.8% 29.5%
Any news on what happened to the Live+7 numbers for November 17-23 and November 24-30?
Stephanie, they are still MIA and no answer from Nielsen to my question about them yet.
Bill, I think Heroes its going up on poeple who watch it on DVR, its that a good sign? ore you think they could cancel the show in the future?? how do you see the future of Heroes?
Alexander, as it stands Heroes is safe, though it will probably be required to cut back on expenses a bit. If it takes a tumble after winter hiatus, then it may be in trouble. But DVR numbers are not likely to save it or any other show.
I hope Heroes will grow in person live numbers, its a great show, better than others like American Idol or other reality shows….