"Studio 60" Nielsens Revised Upward, Due To DVR Time-Shifting

'Studio 60' Gets Bump from DVRs
NBC series is most 'time-shifted' of season
Zap2It.com

December 29 2006

The initial ratings for NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" often
don't look that great. A week later, though, they generally look
somewhat better.

The first-year series from "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin is the most
"time-shifted" series on television this season, according to ratings
provider Nielsen. That means a greater percentage of its viewers record
the show and watch it later than anything else on the broadcast networks.

At the beginning of 2006, Nielsen started tracking two different ratings
systems as a way to measure the impact of digital video recorders. "Live
plus same-day" ratings -- the ones reported on Zap2it every morning --
measure the number of people who watch a given show as it airs or within
the next few hours. In "Studio 60's" case, that number hovered around 8
million people for much of the fall.

Nielsen also tracks "live plus seven" ratings, which includes people who
watch a recorded copy of a show within the next week. "Studio 60" adds
nearly 11 percent to its total audience in those ratings; including
reruns, its average is closer to 9 million viewers for the season.

All but one of the top 10 time-shifted shows air on NBC or The CW,
suggesting that people may not be breaking their habit of watching
higher-rated networks (CBS, ABC) live but are sampling other shows
thanks to their DVRs. "Studio 60's" lead-in, "Heroes," already draws a
big same-day audience, but it's second in the time-shifted ratings as
well, adding 9.1 percent more viewers in the following week.

The rest of the top 10 are "Gilmore Girls," which adds 7.9 percent more
viewers; "America's Next Top Model," 7.7 percent; "30 Rock," 7.5
percent; "Friday Night Lights," 7.5 percent; "The Nine," 6.7 percent;
"Supernatural," 6.7 percent; and "Kidnapped," "One Tree Hill" and
"Smallville," all at 6.6 percent.