Networks Post Gains on DVR Viewing

NEW YORK: DVR playback delivered a ratings boost to the broadcast networks for premiere week in September, with Grey’s Anatomy, The Mentalist and House among the series that added more than 2 million viewers each for time-shifted viewing within seven days of the broadcast date.

According to Nielsen numbers for the week of September 21 to 27, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy added 2.97 million viewers in DVR playback, bringing its audience base to 20.03 million. CBS’s The Mentalist added 2.95 million to reach 18.04 million, and FOX’s House added 2.88 million to hit 20.15 million. Other shows to record significant gains included CSI  (2.22 million), FlashForward (1.97 million), Fringe (1.97 million), NCIS (1.93 million), Criminal Minds (1.91 million), CSI: Miami (1.9 million) and Bones (1.87 million).

CBS had 15 shows that saw viewership boosted by more than a million in premiere week. "With the growth of DVR penetration and usage, we can no longer evaluate the performance of programs simply based on ratings delivered the following day," said David Poltrack, the chief research officer at CBS and president of CBS Vision. "Viewers are now watching their favorite programs on their schedules as well as ours. The industry must now switch our collective focus away from the ‘partial’ overnight audience reports to the full audience reports when they come out some weeks later. That is when we see the true drawing power of the prime-time broadcast network programs, which is only being enhanced by this new technology."

The CW Network, meanwhile, trumpeted that it showed the largest percentage ratings gains of any broadcast network during the premiere week, notably for 90210 and The Vampire Diaries. And ABC noted that its primetime averages were up by a million viewers, and nine of its scripted series gained a million or more viewers.