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Timeshifted ratings: What we’re watching later on

Supernatural, Private Practice, Survivor, Stargate: Universe, Californication, Bones, Cold Case & Fringe are the top shows we are recording and watching later.

supernaturalSupernatural, Private Practice, Survivor, Stargate: Universe, Californication, Bones, Cold Case, Fringe and Top Gear are the top shows we are recording and watching later, according to early figures released by OzTAM.

Since December 27 OzTAM has begun adding Timeshifted, or Consolidated, figures to its Ratings in a major change to its survey data. It tallies the programmes that are watched up to 7 days after their live airing, now known as the “Overnight” figure. Homes with OzTAM People Meters are now recognising what is watched on recording equipment including PVRs, DVRs and VCRs.

Since Monday networks have been getting their eyes on Consolidated figures -it takes eight days for the results to trickle down. As of yesterday they were able to see the results for shows which aired from Sunday December 27 to Wednesday December 30, Week 1 of 2010 ratings data.

It illustrates how some shows are picking up significant audiences when watched later by viewers.

At the top of the data so far is Supernatural.

It had 394,000 in its Overnight results, but picked up another 41,000 through Consolidated figures, a total of 435,000 viewers. But the news is all the more hollow for fans of the show. TEN dropped it before getting a chance to see Consolidated figures.

Similarly, Private Practice on Seven and Nine’s Survivor picked up another 40,000 each while Stargate: Universe (also dumped) and Californication both grew by 37,000, Bones and Fringe by 30,000 and Top Gear by 29,000. Poirot on the ABC improved by 27,000.

The Consolidated figures also show a spike for some shows that have double episodes, particularly when the second is a late night programme, such as Californication and Cold Case. Many viewers are watching the first and recording the second.

Some shows on digital channels are also nabbing big lifts.

Fringe had 15,000* viewers on GO! on December 30 in Overnight figures. It picked up another 30,000 in Consolidated figures. New Amsterdam had 3,000* in Overnight but picked up a whopping 21,000 viewers in Consolidated -seven times its audience. Reaper and Ugly Betty have also picked up extra eyeballs on 7TWO. No doubt other data from Dec 31 – Jan 2 will show similar boosts.

And it’s not just individual shows that are seeing changes from the Consolidated figures. It has already begun to affect network shares.

From Overnight figures for Wednesday December 30 Seven won the 18-49 demo in Melbourne by 28% while Nine had 27.1%. But after Consolidated figures came through over a week later, Seven’s share had dropped to 27.4% while Nine rose to 27.8%. It was enough to reverse the result.

So far it is yet to deliver national change, but when official Ratings begin on February 7 with more popular shows, the results may be far more dramatic. The industry is still coming to terms with how Timeshifting figures will impact on shows, shares and revenues.

* GO! figures may relate to a repeat screening.

Shows to gain most from Consolidated figures Dec 27-Dec 30 2009:

ABC:
27,000 Poirot Tue Dec 29
23,000 The Queen’s Coronation Tue Dec 29
17,000 Yo Gabba Gabba Tue Dec 29
15,000 Lilies Mon Dec 28
15,000 Play School Tue Dec 29
14,000 My Family Wed Dec 30
11,000 Oliver Twist Sun Dec 27
11,000 Doctor Who (ABC2) Mon Dec 28

Seven:
40,000 Private Practice Tue Dec 29
30,000 Bones Sun Dec 27
27,000 Castle Sun Dec 27
16,000 City Homicide Wed Dec 30
16,000 Cougar Town: Sneak Peek Tue Dec 29
15,000 Air Crash Investigations
14,000 Operation Croc Sun Dec 27
13,000 Reaper 7TWO Tue Dec 29
12,000 Band of Brothers Sun Dec 27
12,000 Band of Brothers Wed Dec 30
12,000 The First 48 Wed Dec 30
10,000 Ugly Betty 7TWO Tue Dec 29

Nine:
40,000 Survivor Samoa Tue Dec 29
36,000 Survivor Samoa Tue Dec 29
33,000 Cold Case Wed Dec 30
30,000 Fringe GO! Wed Dec 30
26,000 Cold Case Wed Dec 30
24,000 CSI Miami Mon Dec 28
21,000 CSI Miami Mon Dec 28
21,000 New Amsterdam GO! Wed Dec 30
19,000 The Mentalist Mon Dec 28
18,000 M: The Pink Panther Tue Dec 29
16,000 The Middle Mon Dec 28
14,000 Superstars of Dance Wed Dec 30

TEN:
41,000 Supernatural Mon Dec 28
37,000 Stargate Universe Mon Dec 28
37,000 Californication Wed Dec 30
24,000 Californication Wed Dec 30
30,000 White Collar Tue Dec 29
27,000 NCIS Tue Dec 29
17,000 Glee Sun Dec 27
16,000 Futurama Wed Dec 30
16,000 The Cleveland Show Wed Dec 30
15,000 Glee Sun Dec 27
12,000 Accidentally on Purpose Tue Dec 29
11,000 Glee Sun Dec 27
11,000 Malcolm in the Middle Tue Dec 29
10,000 The Office Tue Dec 29

SBS:
29,000 Top Gear Mon Dec 28
20,000 Man Vs Wild Mon Dec 28
18,000 John Adams Sun Dec 27
17,000 Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison Tue Dec 29
17,000 The Fixer Mon Dec 28
13,000 The Circuit Tue Dec 29
13,000 Hestons Feasts Sun Dec 27
10,000 Rex in Rome Wed Dec 30
10,000 Inspector Montalbano Sun Dec 27

Week One

Source: OzTAM

48 Responses

  1. @David – could be people chose to record these shows from their 2am and 3am repeats to avoid earlier conflicts perhaps. Especially if you are out and already recording other shows prime time.

    I know I often use over night or day time repeats for Foxtel shows when there are too many prime time conflicts (although its really not a problem at all at the moment with nothing much on).

  2. I’m just concerned that 17,000 people are taping “Yo Gabba Gabba” for later use. . Just in case you’re not aware, this is Not a documentary about the Brisbane Cricket Ground!

  3. David, those overnight figures for New Amsterdam (3,000) and Fringe (15,000) are incorrect, and possibly represent the number for those who watched “as live” on the night instead. GO had a share of 3.9% for Wed Dec 30, and New Amsterdam was watched by 117,000 on Dec 30.

    1. Andrew I have re-checked. They aren’t incorrect per se but they may relate to one of the repeat screenings on GO! because as we know it is built on a Pay TV style model. New Amsterdam definitely picked up 7 times its audience for one of its screenings etc. This is on top of a separate figure for another broadcast. I have now noted this qualification in the story. Well spotted and welcome to the madness that is our new data!

  4. Those timeshift numbers are so small.

    I can’t believe some of the posters here – you think that an extra 40,000 viewers would encourage Ten to keep Supernatural on the air? What a joke!

    Even with the extra 40,000 viewers, only 434,000 still watached the show, which is not acceptable for a prime time broadcast network.

    What Ten needs to do is get their 3rd channel up and running and put Supernatural on that along with Monk and other shows that have a niche audience (although Supernatural will be finishing soon anyway).

  5. No real surprise. I record pretty much all commercial tv that I watch and watch it so I fit it into my schedule, not when the networks think i should be watching it. The other huge advantage is skipping the adds. I love my Topfield digital hard drive recorder xxxxxx !

  6. Does anyone know how the people meters are handed out? Is it random? do they have a system. I’ve been waiting a long time to get a box and have my voice heard …still waiting 🙁

  7. Even with the extra 41,000 timeshifted viewers, Supernatural was still around 140,000 less than the replacement movie, The Seige which had 579,000 watching from 8.30pm-11pm…and that is not including any +7 timeshifted viewers.
    As much as I love Supernatural, it is not rating high enough to stay in primetime…maybe because all the fans of the show watch it by other means before it was shown on tv.
    IMO Supernatural is a great show, but when a first run drama that has only been played in the U.S. a few weeks before is replaced by a multi-repeated old movie and that movie rates a lot higher…then that is saying something unfortunate about the viewing audience at the moment.
    Don’t blame Ten for taking off a show that doesn’t rate…blame the fact that people are not bothering to watch the show when it airs on Ten.

  8. It’s going to make reporting the figures harder for all, and hopefully make networks a little less jumpy with their programming…

    David – can you please remind us – how many actual PeopleMetres are there out there? I remember a figure of 1000 being mentioned some time ago – but statistically speaking, 1000 households is not nearly enough for the system to be anything close to accurate…

  9. The inclusion of timeshifted/recorded programs int he OZTAM figures shows quite clearly that there’s already been some knee-jerk reactions to the ‘viewed’ figures (Channel 10, I’m looking squarely at you). If those responsible for programming take the figures seriously then the most we can hope for is a delayed chop for a program to see account for these additional figures.

    It’s also likely to bring in a lot more strip/super advertising across the bottom or top of the screen during shows, especially as watching the show at a later time will allow ppl to skip the ads easily. We’ll surely see ads creep in across the front of programming, & I don’t mind it as long as it keeps the show on air! Something similar to Ricky Bobby & his Fig Newtons sponsorship would be fine, I’m sure.

  10. Very interesting figures. Now, I wonder what the figures would be like if these shows started and ended on time at not at the usual 8.38pm – 9.38pm.
    If the shows started on time, less people would be watching these on time slip, or having to record them at all. The initial ratings would be higher, with the consolidated figures being lower.
    Basically any show I do end up watching on FTA or Foxtel are all watched on time slip, or after the show has aired in order to skip the commercials, and not playing the waiting game for a show to start late, or not air at all.

  11. Why, oh why, did Ten drop Supernatural before waiting to see these figures? Anyone could have predicted that the viewers of the program are the sort of technophiles who aren’t going to be restricted to watching a show at the exact time that it airs.

  12. Interesting, I thought some of those like Supernatural and SG:U would pick up more. But others like on the 2nd channels had hug gains, maybe this means people are watching the main channel and recording the 2nd? What it does show is networks can’t be as trigger happy and need to wait the week to see what their shows pick up with delayed viewing.

  13. I think this goes to show that “programming” is dead. With so many people recording shows for later it is obvious no one wants to watch when we’re told to anymore. It will be interesting to see if these figures only last the summer though. Whern cold weather sets back in maybe more people will be in front of the TV all night and watching when shows are programmed.

    Out of curiosity, if a house with a ratings box records a show and watches it multiple times during the 7 days, how many times is it counted? I.e. if the same person watches the show twice, does it count for 1 or 2 viewers?

  14. Don’t forget the “overnight” ratings now also include time shifted viewing.
    “Overnights” include live viewing and ‘as live’ which are shows DVR’s and viewed up to 2am the following morning. So the overnight ratings we are now seeing are also seeing a small boost on what we saw before/

    Looking at these +7 ratings, it seems shows are up about 5% when +7 viewing is factored in. (Some shows obviously more than others, DVR ratings tend to favour younger skewing shows as younger people are more inclined to have a DVR) But still those 5% increases are a long way off the 20% or 30% increases that some shows see in the US.

    Digital networks Go! and 7TWO seem to see the biggest increases with Fringe growing by 200% and Reaper 20%

    One thing you will never see in +7 ratings: evening newscasts!

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