In an effort to go ever more granular in the TV ratings, the Nielsen people have released a report illustrating exactly how shows are doing when you factor in DVR viewing. Here’s a spoiler for you - overall, shows do better if you include DVR numbers. Sorry if you don’t like to skip ahead to the endings.

There are precious few surprises, too. The biggest DVR boosts went to LOST and HOUSE, two shows which do just fine without DVR viewing factored in. The Hollywood Reporter helpfully points out:

NBC’s “Office” was the leader in terms of a percentage gain, jumping 31% from 5.8 million viewers to 7.6 million viewers. Other shows — including “Lost” and Fox’s “24″ and “Prison Break” — did well in DVR playback that week. So, too, did an NBC show that has struggled to find a following: “Friday Night Lights” saw a 17% jump in viewership from 4.9 million to 5.7 million viewers that week.

So if anyone benefits from this, it’s Peter Berg, the FNL wonderkind. But here’s where this stuff matters:

The DVR playback data is bound to become a major contention point in this year’s upfront negotiations, where billions of dollars are riding on whether the networks will get paid for viewing that takes place beyond the live mode that is currency now. It also will have an impact on the move toward average commercial ratings, which will help advertisers know how much of their commercials are being seen by viewers. Nielsen studies say that about 50% of commercials are fast-forwarded during DVR playback.

That 50% number seems a little low to me, but commercials are VERY entertaining nowadays. Seriously. You already know those Cavemen have gotten their own sitcom on the strength of a series of commercials. Can the little British gecko be far behind?

One thing I assume the Nielsen people are keeping an eye on is programs recorded but never watched. There is surely a whole genre of television which only TIVOs ever see. I’d like to see the ratings on that, find out what the top ten shows are as chosen by machines.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 12:59 am and is filed under General, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.