The fall TV season launched three weeks ago, and today we finally learned how all the shows that debuted during premiere week are doing, ratings-wise, when you factor in DVR playback. The show that garnered the largest DVR audience was — no surprise here — ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, which added a hefty 4.3 million viewers to its initial tally of 16.8 million during its two-hour season premiere on Sept. 25. (If you’re wondering why CBS’s powerhouse CSI didn’t top the list, remember that it premiered two weeks later, on Oct. 9.) Those 4.3 million additional viewers represent a very important 26 percent increase for Grey’s.
Fox’s House and NBC’s Heroes added 3.8 and 3.2 million viewers via DVR, respectively, to round out the top three in the most-DVRed category. The struggling Heroes, which is averaging just 9.5 million viewers in same-day viewing, especially needed the boost. As for the most-DVRed comedy? Another no-brainer: CBS’s Two and a Half Men, which boosted its initial 13.9 million viewers by 15 percent, with an additional 2.1 million viewers from DVR. No other comedies even cracked the Top 10, in terms of total DVR viewership.
Another super-interesting aspect of these numbers is the shows that receive the greatest percentage increase in viewers after DVR numbers are included. The CW’s new 90210 (pictured) handily took top honors there, boosting its viewership by 43 percent (or 1.1 million pairs of eyeballs) over the meager 2.5 million that originally tuned in. How could this have happened? Fans may have been watching CBS’s NCIS, NBC’s The Biggest Loser, or Fox’s House live at the same time and just decided to tune in to 90210 later. While certainly good news for 90210, this does reveal that a large proportion of the show’s viewers don’t necessarily consider it important enough to watch in real time.
Interestingly, few of TV’s biggest shows — particularly CBS shows, which have all come out of the gate pretty strongly
this season — populate the top of this list. Series on The CW — such
as newbie Privileged (30 percent increase), Gossip Girl (28 percent increase), America’s Next Top Model (27 percent), and One Tree Hill (26 percent) — fill out the top 10, alongside NBC’s The Office (40 percent) and Heroes (37 percent), and Fox’s Fringe (36 percent), House (35 percent), and Prison Break
(27 percent). While topping this percentage-increase list is indeed notable, keep in mind
that most of these shows still draw a relatively small audience overall.
Interestingly, few of TV’s biggest shows — particularly CBS shows, which have all come out of the gate pretty stronglythis season — populate the top of this list. Series on The CW — suchas newbie Privileged (30 percent increase), Gossip Girl (28 percent increase), America’s Next Top Model (27 percent), and One Tree Hill (26 percent) — fill out the top 10, alongside NBC’s The Office (40 percent) and Heroes (37 percent), and Fox’s Fringe (36 percent), House (35 percent), and Prison Break(27 percent). While topping this percentage-increase list is indeed notable, keep in mindthat most of these shows still draw a relatively small audience overall.
I am gladPpriviledged is up there. I hope this factors in when CW is deciding if they want to give it a full season order. It’s a quality show.
I thought 90210 debuted with almost 5 million viewers, no?
If I remember correctly, “Fringe” didn’t get the numbers they were hoping for their premiere (then the ratings improved some) .. maybe factoring in the DVR views will make that number improve?
I am curious about “Supernatural” .. they had a really good premiere (for their show, it’s on the CW too) .. wondering what their DVR numbers looked like too? Although maybe more people wanted to watch it live vs on DVR later??
WOW! What a stunner. The dvr numbers for Grey’s Anatomy puts its total viewership at over 21 million for the week and even that might be on the low side because on the USA Today website ratings for that initial week Grey’s Anatomy is listed at having pulled in 18.3 or 18.5 million viewers and adding over 4 million viewers to that total would put the show at close to 23 million viewers for the first week. Grey’s Anatomy is a force to be reckoned with either way you look at it.
What about Sarah Conner ?
They should print a full list of the DVR numbers. I’m really curious how that looks.
Oops. 90210 did debut to almost 5 million – a week early. These ratings are for premiere week, which actually aired 90210′s second show to considerable ratings decline.
Just because you record a show doesn’t mean it’s not important. I record “How I Met Your Mother” on Monday’s & so I can I seamlessly watch “Chuck” & “Heroes,” and it’s one of my favorite shows.
Thanks!
It’s nice to get this data in addition to the overnights as it gives a good indication of how many people have actually decided to quit on some shows.
I wonder, how much of the DVR viewers are in 18-49. It’s no surprise CBS is left little affected by DVR penetration. Unfortunate for the other networks who skew younger.
Also, is it safe to assume these are live +7 figures?
I really want to know the numbers for Chuck, Terminator, and Supernatural. Please?
Maybe people DVRed 90210 because there are so many commercials on the CW, not that they did not think it was impoertant enough to watch live. I DVR Americas Next Top Madel for that very reason. The commericals on the CW are endless.
“this does reveal that a large proportion of the show’s viewers don’t necessarily consider it important enough to watch in real time.”
I don’t think “important” has anything to do with it. In fact the opposite is true. I don’t watch ANY show that I truly enjoy in “real time.” I watch them off my TiVo because that allows me to watch them when I am in the mood to enjoy them most, and it allows me to watch them without commercials. The degree to which TiVo has increased my enjoyment of television is impossible to calculate.
Does it matter if the ratings are better with DVR since the ratings are used to get advertisers to pay for air time and people just fast forward through the commercials?
I also dvr the shows I want to watch but not because I like them less but because I can’t watch them at the time, there is too much going on, too much noise in the house I rather be alone
Ow and yeah Grey’s anatomy is a force of nature when it comes to ratings! The rating before was not 16 but 18 mil so with the dvr it goes sky high!