Audiences dive into the DVR

Top TV dramas draw the most playback

By RICK KISSELL

Programs that rely on their immediacy, like NBC’s 'The Jay Leno Show,' benefit little in playback numbers.

The rich got richer in DVR playback numbers released Monday, which paint a picture of auds watching more programs on their own timetables.

Top dramas like "Grey's Anatomy" and "House" exhibited the biggest growth in premiere-week Nielsens that include all same-week DVR playback, but laffers like "The Big Bang Theory" and "The Office" also shot up. And overall, the networks saw a noticeable rise in same-week playback vs. the kickoff frame last year.

NBC, meanwhile, benefited the least in premiere-week DVR lift as its top show, "Sunday Night Football," and its nightly "The Jay Leno Show" had relatively little traction in DVR playback.

Thursday remains the night where DVRs get their biggest workout, as seven of the biggest 18-49 gainers in premiere week -- across each of the major networks -- aired on the night.

Looking at the 18-49 numbers, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW averaged a combined 15.2 rating in "live plus 7-day" DVR playback during the week of Sept. 21-27 -- a lift of 1.9 ratings points from the 13.3 total originally reported for the "live plus same-day" Nielsens a couple of weeks ago (Daily Variety, Sept. 23). Last year during premiere week, the growth from "same-day" to "7-day" was just 1.3 ratings points (14.5 to 15.8).

This kind of jump was not unexpected, as the national penetration of digital video recorders among adults 18-49 is now 38%, up from 33% last year at this time.

The ratings growth from "live plus same-day" to "live plus 7" isn't necessarily a good thing for a network's bottom line.

While a high rating in DVR playback is a good indication of a show's overall popularity, it isn't a viable sales measurement. The nets sell ad time based on the "C3" metric (the number of viewers who watch commercials in three-day DVR playback), so they would prefer auds watch a program as close to its skedded timeslot as possible.

The nets aren't eager to release C3 numbers, but here are some of the Nielsen highlights from the first-week "live plus 7" DVR playback race:

• The two-hour preems of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" (up by 1.5 ratings points in adults 18-49) and Fox's "House" (up 1.4) were easily the biggest demo gainers, but CBS dramas "CSI" and "The Mentalist" as well as NBC comedy "The Office" grew by 1 full point. Overall, CBS claimed 13 programs that grew by at least half a ratings point from "same day" to "7-day" -- more than any other net.

Among new shows, the biggest gains in premiere week came from ABC's "FlashForward" (0.9 ratings point), Fox's "Glee" (0.8 gain for its third episode) and NBC's "Community" (0.7 gain for its second episode).

In total viewers, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" (17.06 million to 20.03 million) and CBS' "The Mentalist" (15.09 million to 18.04 million) gained the most, nearly 3 million viewers, but Fox's "House" (17.27m vs. 20.14m) and CBS' "CSI" (16.04m vs. 18.26m) also tacked on more than 2 million.

• Shows with a sci-fi tinge tend to be big gainers, with NBC's "Heroes" and Fox's "Fringe" shooting up by 0.9 ratings points and ABC's "FlashForward" by 0.8.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are such sports shows as NBC's "Sunday Night Football," and ABC's "Saturday Night Football" and newsmags "60 Minutes," "20/20" and "48 Hours" that either remained at their initial rating or grew by just a tick.

Similarly, NBC's "Jay Leno Show," which auds know they can watch any weeknight, doesn't see much playback, rising by just 0.1 from "same-day" to "7-day."

• Struggling first-year shows "Brothers" on Fox and the since-canceled "The Beautiful Life" on CW failed to see any ratings uptick -- another sign that auds just aren't that into them. And another rookie that has failed to do much, CBS half-hour "Accidentally on Purpose," grew by just 0.2 ratings points.

• On a network basis, Fox saw the biggest jump in 18-49 (0.6 ratings points), followed by ABC and CBS (0.4), CW (0.3) and NBC (0.2). Fox ended up tying ABC for the lead (3.7 rating), with CBS close behind (3.6) and NBC a now-distant fourth (2.9).

And in total viewers, winner CBS went from 11.8 million to 13.0 million, while second-place ABC rose from 11.1 million to 12.0 million.

• CW is the biggest gainer on a percentage basis, as its 30% rise in 18-49 during premiere week (1.3 from 1.0) was larger than that of ABC, CBS or Fox (whose increases were between 12% and 19%).

The younger-skewing net's "Smallville" shot up 50% (1.5 from 1.0), and "90210" grew by 40% (1.4 from 1.0).