Fun with ratings: Lots of people are DVR-ing 'Fringe'
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Hey, remember premiere week? That time three weeks ago when all the networks were filled with optimism that this was gonna be their year?
Well, we finally know just how many people watched the shows that aired then, as Nielsen has released its first set of "live plus 7" ratings for the new season. The plus-7 ratings add people who watched a given show up to a week later to those who watched it the day it aired.
As has been the case since Nielsen started measuring DVR usage a couple years ago, shows that are popular with people in general are also popular with time-shifting viewers. The biggest gainer in terms of viewer numbers was Grey's Anatomy, which went from 18.47 million viewers in the same-day ratings to 21.16 million in the plus-7s (it also passed its network mate Desperate Housewives in the rankings, moving up from third to second overall).
That's about a 14.5 percent jump in total audience, which is pretty strong but not the best among the 20 shows I looked at to compare their ratings bumps. That honor goes to FOX's new series Fringe, which improved by more than 20 percent, from 9.4 million to 11.38 million. It still lost out to CBS' premiere of The Mentalist (16.79 million, up 8 percent from its same-day audience) in total viewers, but the gap was narrower.
The CW's 90210 also improved by close to 20 percent, although the raw numbers -- 2.94 million to 3.53 million -- aren't as impressive as some others. Other big gainers in percentage terms were NBC's Heroes (12.02 million, up 19 percent) and The Office (10.91 million, up 17 percent) and FOX's House (14.63 million, up 18 percent).
Number-cruncher extraordinaire James Hibberd has a handy chart of which shows gained the most in the adults 18-49 demographic that is the primary currency between networks and advertisers. As with the total-viewer numbers, 90210, Heroes and Fringe all benefited substantially in the plus-7s, as did shows like One Tree Hill, Bones and Lipstick Jungle.
On the flip side, not many people waited to watch The Simpsons, Family Guy or How I Met Your Mother; the three comedies only grew by 5 percent to 7 percent when DVR viewing was factored in. Ditto for Dancing with the Stars -- the Monday, Sept. 22 premiere was the week's most-watched show in both the same-day and plus-7 ratings, but it rose by only about 4 percent with delayed viewing.
That's still better than NBC's Sunday Night Football, which almost no one watched after its live airing on Sept. 28. It rose from 17.34 million to 17.35 million in the plus-7 ratings, a gain of .05 percent.
DVRs are in about 28 percent of homes now, up from 20 percent at the start of last season. That doesn't mean everyone who has one is using it, though: As Hibberd points out, the five broadcast networks got a combined 8.8 percent ratings bounce during premiere week, compared to 8.4 percent in the same week last year. That means that even with the plus-7 numbers factored in, ratings are still off a little bit compared to last season.
Here's a look at how the audience grew from the same-day to the plus-7 ratings for the week of Sept. 22-28:
- Dancing with the Stars (Monday): 21.34 million to 22.16 million (+3.8%)
- Grey's Anatomy: 18.47 million to 21.16 million (+14.5%)
- NCIS: 18.03 million to 19.36 million (+7.4%)
- The Mentalist: 15.6 million to 16.79 million (+7.6%)
- House: 12.38 million to 14.63 million (+18.2%)
- Heroes: 10.09 million to 12.02 million (+19.1%)
- Law & Order: SVU: 9.68 million to 10.9 million (+12.6%)
- Fringe: 9.42 million to 11.38 million (+20.7%)
- The Office: 9.34 million to 10.91 million (+16.8%)
- How I Met Your Mother: 9.79 million to 10.44 million (+6.5%)
- The Simpsons: 9.47 million to 9.94 million (+5%)
- Family Guy: 9.09 million to 9.68 million (+6.4%)
- Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: 5.89 million to 6.65 million (+12.9%)
- 90210: 2.94 million to 3.53 million (+19.9%)
- Gossip Girl: 3.33 million to 3.73 million (+12%)
- Supernatural: 3.18 million to 3.62 million (+13.9%)
What are you watching as it airs? What sits on your DVR for a few days?
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Nice to see somebody actually taking the viewing habits of many of us into consideration. The old ways of doing things need changed, because too many good shows are getting axed because the morons in advertising and with the networks aren't paying attention to what's going on all around them. We're almost in the year 2009, and they're acting like this is 1969. Wake up, people; the rest of us already have.
THis is great, maybe some of the fan favs will stand a better chance. Most people I know have certain times when they sit down to watch TV and catch up.
The advertising "morons" shouldn't pay attention to these numbers. If your show is gaining a lot of viewers on dvr, you ***ume that at least that many didn't see your commercial.
Many people who watch recorded shows don't watch the commercials, so they shouldn't be counted in the ratings. In general, people are more exposed to commercials through live viewing.
Ratings aren't supposed to measure "fan favorites," they are designed to measure advertising value. Shows that don't get enough live viewing will still, rightfully, be canceled.
I don't agree. I think people do watch commercials and I on many occasions have stopped or replayed a commercial when it looks like something I may be interested in. The key here is to get advertisers to really target the audience better and to come up with eye catching commercials that viewers will want to watch.
I have to agree with Eric. If I see something that catches my eye, I will watch the commercial.
TV viewing is going the way of cable anyways, TV networks need to be better at creating shows and retaining their viewers.
What I'm seeing more and more, especially among popular "time-shift" shows, are commercials where the product name is in big block letters at the top of the screen for the entire 15-30 seconds of the commercial. So even if you fast-forward past the commercial, you can still see the product name or the motion picture that's opening on Friday. So in other words, they're finding ways to get their message across - even to time-shifters.
I'd say 90% of the primetime TV I watch is on DVR.
I don't dvr anything, because I don't own a dvr. I do all of my viewing live.
for YEARS, I have always taped my shows with a VCR, and watched it while skipping commercials, how is it any different