The DVR viewing leaders are beginning to be a bit of a broken record, because yet again for the week of November 3-9, ABC's Grey's Anatomy again had the largest audience via DVR viewing with 4.308 million viewers via DVRs. NBC's Office was second with a DVR viewing audience of 3.083 million. Rounding out the top ten for the largest DVR audiences were CSI, Office, Desperate Housewives, Two and a Half Men, Survivor:Gabon, Criminal Minds, Bones, 30 Rock and CSI:Miami.
CW's 90210 was the top show for percentage increase over its Live audience, increasing a whopping 55.3% in Live+7 viewing, the most we've seen in more than a year (and likely the most ever) for a prime-time broadcast show. Rounding out the top 10 for largest % increase via DVR viewing were Lipstick Jungle, Office, Privileged, America's Top Model, Grey's Anatomy, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, 30 Rock, Gossip Girl and Prison Break.
Those of you interested in DVR viewing numbers might enjoy Doing My Part To Combat DVR Misinformation.
Largest DVR Audiences for Broadcast TV Shows, November 3-9, 2008:
| 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 | 18,172 | 13,864 | 4,308 | 31.1% |
| 2 | OFFICE | NBC | 10,204 | 7,121 | 3,083 | 43.3% |
| 3 | CSI | CBS | 20,024 | 17,077 | 2,947 | 17.3% |
| 4 | Desperate Housewives | ABC | 17,200 | 14,347 | 2,853 | 19.9% |
| 5 | Two and a Half Men | CBS | 14,405 | 11,742 | 2,663 | 22.7% |
| 6 | SURVIVOR: GABON | CBS | 12,902 | 10,453 | 2,449 | 23.4% |
| 7 | Criminal Minds | CBS | 15,975 | 13,529 | 2,446 | 18.1% |
| 8 | Bones | FOX | 11,521 | 9,204 | 2,317 | 25.2% |
| 9 | 30 Rock | NBC | 9,466 | 7,276 | 2,190 | 30.1% |
| 10 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 14,292 | 12,254 | 2,038 | 16.6% |
| 11 | Private Practice | ABC | 10,364 | 8,432 | 1,932 | 22.9% |
| 12 | Dancing with the Stars | ABC | 18,015 | 16,178 | 1,837 | 11.4% |
| 13 | NUMB3RS | CBS | 12,551 | 10,772 | 1,779 | 16.5% |
| 14 | Amazing Race 13 | CBS | 12,420 | 10,650 | 1,770 | 16.6% |
| 15 | E.R. | NBC | 9,906 | 8,158 | 1,748 | 21.4% |
| 16 | BROTHERS & Sisters | ABC | 11,197 | 9,456 | 1,741 | 18.4% |
| 17 | How I Met Your Mother | CBS | 10,061 | 8,361 | 1,700 | 20.3% |
| 18 | The Big Bang Theory | CBS | 10,300 | 8,680 | 1,620 | 18.7% |
| 19 | BOSTON LEGAL | ABC | 7,930 | 6,335 | 1,595 | 25.2% |
| 20 | SNL PRESIDENTIAL BASH '08 | NBC | 15,140 | 13,607 | 1,533 | 11.3% |
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 | 3,883 | 2,501 | 1,382 | 55.3% |
| 2 | LIPSTICK JUNGLE | NBC | 4,323 | 3,013 | 1,310 | 43.5% |
| 3 | OFFICE | NBC | 10,204 | 7,121 | 3,083 | 43.3% |
| 4 | PRIVILEGED | CW | 2,334 | 1,679 | 655 | 39.0% |
| 5 | AMERICA'S Top Model | CW | 4,392 | 3,247 | 1,145 | 35.3% |
| 6 | GREY'S ANATOMY | ABC | 18,172 | 13,864 | 4,308 | 31.1% |
| 7 | TERMINATOR: SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES | FOX | 6,012 | 4,617 | 1,395 | 30.2% |
| 8 | 30 Rock | NBC | 9,466 | 7,276 | 2,190 | 30.1% |
| 9 | Gossip Girl | CW | 3,654 | 2,817 | 837 | 29.7% |
| 10 | PRISON BREAK | FOX | 6,132 | 4,740 | 1,392 | 29.4% |
| 11 | Smallville | CW | 5,020 | 3,995 | 1,025 | 25.7% |
| 12 | BOSTON LEGAL | ABC | 7,930 | 6,335 | 1,595 | 25.2% |
| 13 | Bones | FOX | 11,521 | 9,204 | 2,317 | 25.2% |
| 14 | LIFE | NBC | 6,817 | 5,473 | 1,344 | 24.6% |
| 15 | SUPERNATURAL | CW | 3,714 | 2,991 | 723 | 24.2% |
| 16 | DIRTY SEXY MONEY | ABC | 7,141 | 5,771 | 1,370 | 23.7% |
| 17 | SURVIVOR: GABON | CBS | 12,902 | 10,453 | 2,449 | 23.4% |
| 18 | Private Practice | ABC | 10,364 | 8,432 | 1,932 | 22.9% |
| 19 | One Tree Hill | CW | 3,388 | 2,759 | 629 | 22.8% |
| 20 | Two and a Half Men | CBS | 14,405 | 11,742 | 2,663 | 22.7% |
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.
Not a lot of 10 PM shows on the absolute time-shifting list. Do you have the numbers for CSI:NY? Thanks.
Mar, here are the CSI:NY numbers, same column headings as above.
CSI: NY CBS 12,941 11,545 1,396 12.1%
Thanks Bill. Good numbers.
Great numbers for the CBS comedies.
Do you have the numbers for Life on Mars?
LIFE ON MARS ABC 9,720 8,278 1,442 17.4%
Thanks.
So silly ? but do these numbers include preemption watching at a later date? For example, November 6th Supernatural and Smallville was preempted in Denver for football but was on Saturday. So does that get counted in this total?
Nichole, it’s a good question, not a silly one! But, the answer is sadly “no”. Once something moves out of its normal time slot in a local market, it is gone from the national numbers we have access to. That’s not limited to the CW. I find it unfortunate, but it is at least applied fairly to all networks.
The week the Jets played the Patriots on Thursday it premempted the CW lineup in New York and the ABC lineup in Boston. When those programs aired over the weekend in the local markets they were certainly measured (and I’m sure the networks saw the totals) but the numbers were not added back into the national totals, including the numbers above.
I fretted for a moment because I didn’t see Chuck or Heroes on the list…but then I looked at the week; no Heroes or Chuck due to SNL special!
Thanks for taking the time to do these lists guys. I hate that you pick on my Heroes, but you guys know your stuff.
Not surprised to see Smallville & Supernatural on the list every week. They are on a really tough night. CW should really appreciate these shows more considering they are in the top rated shows on that network.
I thought 90210 was on The CW, why does it say NBC’s 90210?
Jackson, typo!
WOW @ how many people will DVDR Boston Legal, obviously some people are attached to it. It almost struck me as a show that brought its own audience anywhere, so seems like an odd move that ABC wasted a post-DWTS (now post-SW?) slot on a show they were done with, weren’t promoting and that would have basically done the same numbers or close anywhere else on the schedule.
So for Sarah Connor – do these numbers help and are added to the first episode of this month ?
Bill, can you help me with something.
I’ve looked all over the site for the 2007-2008 most DVR viewed shows and a season to date most DVR viewed shows. I can’t find neither, if they do exist.
Tom, the info is only published weekly. We don’t do season-to-date posts — even if we had the data available to us easily (we don’t), I’m not sure it would be worth it based on interest.
Tom, Robert is correct, the show by show Live+7 “season to date” data isn’t made available to us. We do see “Most Current” season to date data which lumps Live+SD and Live+7 data together in a way that’s not comparable to straight Live+7 numbers.
As to why we don’t post it, Robert is again correct, it’s not worth the small traffic. However, you can review the past weekly lists and get a very good idea of which shows are “most DVR viewed”. In fact, the list varies so little from week to week, practically any one week’s top 5 are likely to be near the top for the season (as long as you take into account off weeks).
DSM up to 7m + 23.7% increase ahead of PP. Sucks nobody watched live,
Maybe ABC will mull it over and realize nothing is gonna work for them @10pm except a DWTS recap of the recap
dirtysexyj, why would they realize that? Lost did much much better there than DSM.