DVR Makes big Difference to "The Office" & "Earl"

In our busy household the DVR has been the best thing to come along in years. The DVR is typically scheduled to record most all of our favorite shows and we watch them when we can however this normally occurs with in a 72 hour period. Obviously many of you are in agreement because new Nielsen data reveals that 78% of viewers who watch recorded broadcast primetime shows play them back within two days, with 84% playing them back within three days. We’ve known for years that DVRs would fundamentally change how people watch TV, and now for the first time it’s beginning to reflect solidly in the ratings. That’s because the data also reveals that when delayed viewing is fully taken into account, ratings actually soar for some shows. Programs that are only modest performers on the nights they air are becoming big hits when that live viewing is supplemented by DVR viewing over the following week. The top ten impacted shows according to Nielsen are: “The Office”, “Earl”, “CSI”, “Ghost Whisperer”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Lost”, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”, “Friday Night Lights”, “Heroes”, “CSI: Miami” and “Survivor”. It’s still remains unclear how many viewers are watching recorded commercials however one thing is for sure, networks continuing to do business on a live-only basis are significantly distorting what true viewing is and are seriously short selling themselves. Link: MediaWeek, 11/09/06 - Nielsen: DVR Playback Viewing Occurs Within 3 Days of Air and Media Life, 11/09/06 - Just why the scuffleover DVR viewing