'Jay Leno' and the least DVR'ed shows of the season
By Rick Porter

November 9, 2009 3:57 PM

When NBC was hyping "The Jay Leno Show" over the summer, one of the things executives kept saying is that the show would be "DVR-proof," meaning that people would want to watch live -- commercials and all -- so as not to miss anything.

Well, that's turning out to be true. But it's not quite the bonus the network was hoping it to be.

In both raw numbers and percentage of viewers, "The Jay Leno Show" is among the least-recorded shows of the season so far, according to seven-day DVR figures from the start of the season through Oct. 25. Leno's average of 5.57 million viewers per night goes up less than 4 percent, to 5.8 million, when DVR use is factored in.

Either way, that's not a lot of eyeballs. And with at least one study suggesting that even when they fast-forward, people still register some impression of ads, being "DVR-proof" is not necessarily a good thing. (I've also heard anecdotally that people use the 10 o'clock hour, when Leno airs, to catch up on shows they've recorded earlier or on previous nights. That obviously detracts from both Leno's show and the dramas on ABC and CBS.)

The DVR numbers for Leno's show are, however, in line with a couple of unscripted shows where the emphasis is on seeing things as they happen. ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" gets only about a 4-percent bump for each of its weekly airings, while less than 3 percent of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's" viewers watch the show more than a day after it airs.

They also have much bigger audiences to start with than "Leno" -- "DWTS" averages just under 17 million same-day viewers on Monday and 13.59 million on Tuesday, while "EM: Home Edition" has an audience of 10.56 million on Sunday nights.

As you might expect, live sports programs are at the very bottom of the heap. NBC's Sunday NFL pre-game show, "Football Night in America," adds fewer than 10,000 people, and "Sunday Night Football" and ABC's prime-time college game on Saturdays each add fewer than 25,000 more viewers.

Leaving out sports, here are the weakest DVR performers for the 2009-10 season through Oct. 25 in terms of viewers added:

"America's Most Wanted" (FOX): Same-day viewers, 5.037 million; 7-day viewers, 5.126 million, +89,000

"Cops" (FOX): 4.397 million to 4.508 million, +111,000

"Brothers" (FOX, Fridays): 2.397 million to 2.517 million, +120,000 >>

"America's Funniest Home Videos" (ABC): 7.992 million to 8.131 million, +139,000

"The Beautiful Life" (The CW): 1.047 million to 1.214 million, +167,000 (canceled after two episodes)

"60 Minutes" (CBS): 13.925 million to 14.111 million, +186,000

"The Jay Leno Show" (NBC, Tuesday): 6.184 million to 6.371 million, +187,000

"Supernanny" (ABC): 4.527 million to 4.717 million, +190,000

"The Jay Leno Show" (Monday): 5.143 million to 5.343 million, +200,000

"The Jay Leno Show" (Thursday): 5.066 million to 5.287 million, +221,000

"The Jay Leno Show" (Friday): 5.543 million to 5.764 million, +221,000

The smallest percentage gains are:

"60 Minutes": +1.3% (13.925 million to 14.111 million)

"America's Funniest Home Videos": +1.7% (7.992 million to 8.131 million)

"America's Most Wanted": +1.8% (5.037 million to 5.126 million)

"Cops": +2.5% (4.397 million to 4.508 million)

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (ABC): +2.7% (10.558 million to 10.844 million)

"The Jay Leno Show" (Tuesday): +3.0% (6.184 million to 6.371 million)

"Dateline" (NBC, Friday): +3.1% (7.167 million to 7.389 million)

"The Jay Leno Show" (Monday) +3.9% (5.143 million to 5.343 million)

"The Jay Leno Show" (Wednesday): +3.9% (5.903 million to 6.133 million)

"The Jay Leno Show" (Friday): +4.0% (5.543 million to 5.764 million)

"Dancing with the Stars" (ABC, Monday): +4.0% (16.981 million to 17.658 million)

TV Ratings: CMAs sing for ABC Wednesday
By Hanh Nguyen

November 12, 2009 9:23 AM

Fast National ratings for Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

The 43rd Annual CMA Awards stole the show Wednesday night for ABC, taking the ratings and demo race handily since FOX lost its World Series juice when it ended last week.

Taylor Swift, Brad Paisley and more gave ABC first place to the tune of 16.8 million viewers and a 10.1 rating/16 share in households. CBS was in second with 11.3 million viewers and a 7.1/11, followed by NBC (6.7 million, 4.5/7), FOX (6.4 million, 3.9/6) and The CW (2.2 million, 1.5/2).

The coveted adult 18-49 demo title also went to ABC with a 5.2, still well ahead of CBS' 3.1, FOX's 2.7, NBC's 2.0 and of course The CW's 1.0.

Wednesday's hourly numbers:

8 p.m.

ABC: "43rd Annual CMA Awards " (17 million, 10.1/16)
CBS: "Old Christine" (7.6 million, 4.8/8)/"Gary Unmarried" (7.7 million, 4.7/7)
NBC: "Mercy" (6.8 million, 4.4/7)
FOX: "So You Think You Can Dance" results show (5.5 million viewers, 3.5/6 households)
The CW: "America's Next Top Model" (3.2 million, 2.2/3)

18-49 leader: 43rd Annual CMA Awards (5.0)

9 p.m.

ABC: 43rd Annual CMA Awards (17.7 million, 10.6/16)
CBS: "Criminal Minds" (12.3 million, 7.6/12)
NBC: "Law & Order: SVU" (8.8 million, 5.8/9)
FOX: "Glee" (7.3 million, 4.4/7)
The CW: "The Vampire Diaries" rerun (1.2 million, 0.8/1)

18-49 leader: 43rd Annual CMA Awards (5.5)

10 p.m.

ABC: 43rd Annual CMA Awards (15.8 million, 9.7/16)
CBS: "CSI: NY" (13.9 million, 9.0/15)
NBC: "The Jay Leno Show" (4.6 million, 3.1/5)

18-49 leader: 43rd Annual CMA Awards (5.0)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change, especially in the case of live telecasts.

TV Ratings: CBS' 'The Mentalist,' ABC's 'Grey's Anatomy' still top Thursday
By Hanh Nguyen

November 13, 2009 8:55 AM

Fast National ratings for Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009

Thursday's ratings was the same old, same old: CBS' "The Mentalist" raked in the overall numbers, but ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" go the demographic win.

CBS drew 15.2 million viewers and an 9.5 rating/15 share in households for the night, well ahead of ABC's second-place finish with 11 million viewers and 7.2/11. FOX followed with 7.9 million and 4.8/8, while NBC (5.4 million, 3.3/5) and The CW (3.5 million, 2.2/3) trailed.

ABC led among adults 18-49 with a 4.0 rating, just ahead of CBS' 3.8. FOX took third, 2.5, just edging out NBC's 2.4. The CW got a 1.7.

Thursday hour by hour:

8 p.m.

CBS: "Survivor: Samoa" (13.2 million viewers, 7.7/12 households)
FOX: "Bones" (9.8 million, 6.0/9)
ABC: "FlashForward" (8.3 million, 5.3/8)
NBC: "Community" (5.1 million, 3.3/5)/"Parks and Recreation" (4.7 million, 2.9/4)
The CW: "The Vampire Diaries" (4.5 million, 2.8/4)

18-49 leader: "Survivor: Samoa" (4.0)

9 p.m.

CBS: "CSI" (16.9 million, 10.6/16)
ABC: "Grey's Anatomy" (14.4 million, 9.4/15)
NBC: "The Office" (7.8 million, 4.4/7)/"30 Rock" (5.8 million, 3.4/5)
FOX: "Fringe" (5.9 million, 3.7/6)
The CW: "Supernatural" (2.7 million, 1.7/3)

18-49 leader: "Grey's Anatomy" (5.4)

10 p.m.

CBS: "The Mentalist" (15.6 million, 10.1/17)
ABC: "Private Practice" (10.2 million, 6.7/11)
NBC: "The Jay Leno Show" (4.6 million, 3.0/5)

18-49 leader: "Private Practice" (3.9)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change.

TV ratings: Colts-Patriots scores Sunday for NBC
By Rick Porter

November 16, 2009 8:45 AM

Fast National ratings for Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009

A highly anticipated NFL game delivered big ratings Sunday night, putting NBC in its usual spot atop the Nielsens. ABC also had a better-than-average night, as both "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Desperate Housewives" posted some of their best numbers of the season.

NBC brought in 16.1 million viewers and a 10.0 rating/16 share in households to take the top spot. ABC finished second with 11.1 million viewers and a 6.7/11. FOX (10.9 million, 6.4/10) took third thanks to a boost from late-afternoon NFL games, beating out CBS (10.4 million, 6.5/10).

The adults 18-49 race also went NBC's way. The network scored a 6.0 rating in the demo, easily topping FOX's 4.6. ABC averaged 3.5 and CBS 2.3.

Sunday hour by hour:

7 p.m.

FOX: NFL overrun/"The OT" (17.5 million viewers, 10.2/17 households)
CBS: "60 Minutes" (12.3 million, 7.8/13)
ABC: "America's Funniest Home Videos" (8.5 million, 4.8/8)
NBC: "Football Night in America" (7.4 million, 4.6/7)

18-49 leader: NFL/"The OT" (6.5)

8 p.m.

NBC: "Sunday Night Football" - Patriots at Colts (18.7 million, 11.4/17)
CBS: "The Amazing Race" (11.64 million, 6.9/10)
ABC: "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (11.58 million, 6.7/10)
FOX: "The Simpsons" (9 million, 5.2/8)/"The Cleveland Show" (7 million, 4.2/6)

18-49 leader: "Sunday Night Football" (6.7)

9 p.m.

NBC: "Sunday Night Football" (20.9 million, 12.8/19)
ABC: "Desperate Housewives" (14.35 million, 8.7/13)
CBS: "Three Rivers" (8.45 million, 5.2/8)
FOX: "Family Guy" (8.3 million, 4.7/7)/"American Dad" (6 million, 3.5/5)

18-49 leader: "Sunday Night Football" (7.7)

10 p.m.

NBC: "Sunday Night Football" (17.6 million, 11.1/19)
ABC: "Brothers & Sisters" (10.2 million, 6.6/11)
CBS: "Cold Case" (9.2 million, 5.9/10)

18-49 leader: "Sunday Night Football" (6.9)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change, especially in the case of live telecasts.

UPDATE: Nielsen is now saying no ratings, either for Monday or last week, until at least Wednesday morning. We'll have them for you then.

We got word this morning that because of a power outage at a Nielsen facility in Florida, the fast national ratings for Monday, Nov. 16 won't be available for at least the next few hours.

The same problem also affects the release of the weekly ratings.

We will post ratings for "Dancing with the Stars," "House" and the rest of Monday's shows as soon as they become available. Nielsen hasn't given its clients an ETA for the figures, however.

Nielsen Television Ratings are gathered in one of two ways:

Viewer "diaries", in which a target audience self-records its viewing or listening habits. By targeting various demographics, the assembled statistical models provide a rendering of the audiences of any given show, network, and programming hour.

A more technologically sophisticated system uses Set Meters, which are small devices connected to televisions in selected homes. These devices gather the viewing habits of the home and transmit the information nightly to Nielsen through a "Home Unit" connected to a phone line. The technology-based home unit system is meant to allow market researchers to study television viewing habits on a minute to minute basis, seeing the exact moment viewers change channels or turn off their TV. In addition to set meters, individual viewer reporting devices, such as people meters, have allowed the company to separate household viewing information into various demographic groups, but so far Nielsen has refused to change its distribution of data of ethnic groups into subgroups, which could give more targeted information to networks and advertisers.

Changing systems of viewing have impacted Nielsen's methods of market research. In 2005, Nielsen began measuring the usage of digital video recordings such as TiVo. Initial results indicate that time-shifted viewing will have a significant impact on television ratings. The networks are not yet figuring these new results into their ad rates at the resistance of advertisers.

Another criticism of the measuring system itself is that it fails the most important criteria of a sample: it is not random in the statistical sense of the word. Only a small fraction of the population is selected and only those that actually accept are used as the sample size. There are only 25,000 total American households that participate in the Nielsen daily metered system.[8] The resident population of the United States as of 2009 is about 307 million people.[9] As a result, the total number of Nielsen homes only amounts to 0.0000814332248% of the total American population, meaning that 99.9999186% of Americans have no input at all into what is actually being watched.

TV ratings: Monday goes ABC's way
By Rick Porter

November 18, 2009 8:22 AM

Fast National ratings for Monday, Nov. 16, 2009

Monday night's ratings, which were delayed nearly 24 hours because of issues at Nielsen, played out the way they usually do, with ABC on top overall and CBS and FOX battling for the demographic lead.

ABC led the night with 16.1 million viewers and a 10.4 rating/16 share in households. CBS (11.8 million, 7.4/11) came in second, beating out FOX (10.4 million, 6.1/9). NBC took fourth with 4.9 million viewers and a 3.2/5, and The CW (2.4 million, 1.6/2) trailed.

CBS and FOX tied for the lead among adults 18-49 at 4.0. ABC drew a 3.4 in the demo. NBC averaged 1.8 and The CW 1.2.

Monday hour by hour:

8 p.m.

ABC: "Dancing with the Stars" (18.1 million viewers, 11.7/18 households)
FOX: "House" (12.95 million, 7.6/11)
CBS: "How I Met Your Mother" (8.4 million, 5.3/8)/"Accidentally on Purpose" (7.8 million, 5.0/7)
NBC: "Heroes" (5.1 million, 3.2/5)
The CW: "One Tree Hill" (2.6 million, 1.7/3)

18-49 leader: "House" (5.1)

9 p.m.

ABC: "Dancing with the Stars" (19.4 million, 12.3/18)
CBS: "Two and a Half Men" (14.1 million, 8.6/13)/"The Big Bang Theory" (13.5 million, 8.0/12)
FOX: "Lie to Me" (7.8 million, 4.6/7)
NBC: "Trauma" (5.2 million, 3.4/5)
The CW: "Gossip Girl" (2.2 million, 1.5/2)

18-49 leader: "The Big Bang Theory" (5.1)

10 p.m.

CBS: "CSI: Miami" (13.5 million, 8.6/15)
ABC: "Castle" (10.9 million, 7.1/12)
NBC: "The Jay Leno Show" (4.5 million, 3.0/5)

18-49 leader: "CSI: Miami" (3.8)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change.

TV ratings: CBS rolls Tuesday; Heather Locklear doesn't help 'Melrose Place'
By Rick Porter

November 18, 2009 8:54 AM

Fast National ratings for Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009

The top of Tuesday's ratings looked pretty much the same -- CBS cruised to a win. Farther down the list, though, ABC's "V" slipped again and Heather Locklear's first "Melrose Place" appearance didn't do much to boost the show.

(The CW does note that "Melrose Place" drew its biggest audience since Oct. 6, but not by much. Tuesday's show drew 1.54 million viewers, 158,000 more than last week and just 45,000 more than two weeks ago.)

CBS easily won the night with 15.9 million viewers and a 10.0 rating/16 share in households. ABC (10.9 million, 7.0/11) came in second. NBC (8.3 million, 4.8/8) finished third, while FOX grabbed fourth with 6 million viewers and a 3.8/6. The CW (1.8 million, 1.3/2) was in the back of the pack.

CBS also snagged the top spot among adults 18-49 with a 3.4 rating. NBC's 3.0 was good for second, beating out the 2.7 for ABC and 2.4 for FOX. The CW could only muster a 0.9.

Tuesday's hourly results:

8 p.m.

CBS: "NCIS" (20.2 million viewers, 12.3/19 households)
NBC: Special - "Merry Madagascar" (9.3 million, 5.0/8)
ABC: "V" (9.26 million, 6.0/9)
FOX: "So You Think You Can Dance" (6.5 million, 4.2/6)
The CW: "90210" (2.1 million, 1.5/2)

18-49 leader: "NCIS" (4.1)

9 p.m.

ABC: "Dancing with the Stars" (15.9 million, 10.2/16)
CBS: "NCIS: Los Angeles" (14.8 million, 9.3/14)
NBC: "The Biggest Loser" (9.5 million, 5.5/8)
FOX: "So You Think You Can Dance" (5.4 million, 3.5/5)
The CW: "Melrose Place" (1.54 million, 1.1/2)

18-49 leader: "The Biggest Loser" (3.7)

10 p.m.

CBS: "The Good Wife" (12.7 million, 8.4/15)
ABC: "The Forgotten" (7.7 million, 5.0/9)
NBC: "The Jay Leno Show" (6.1 million, 3.9/7)

18-49 leader: "The Good Wife" (2.6)

Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change.