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US dramas top Timeshifted shows

We're still watching US dramas in droves but in our own sweet PVR time, rather than watching them 'Live.'

2014-11-09_2213Scripted US shows may not top the TV ratings in Overnight figures, but they continue to dominate what we are viewing via our PVRs.

US shows comprised 14 of the top 20 titles in the last full week of Consolidated viewing, ending November 1st. There were 4 Australian titles and 2 from the UK.

All 20 of them were either scripted dramas or comedies. 9 belonged to TEN, Seven and ABC both had 4 and Nine had 3.

While Overnight viewing has struggled to see shows top 1 million viewers, we are still drawn to scripted shows. But many prefer to watch them on their own terms, away from late or fluctuating start times and advertisements.

The Blacklist was the top Consolidated show of the week commencing October 26th. Whilst it rated 593,000 in Overnight figures following The Big Adventure, it pulled in another 205,000 viewers -34% of its audience- and finished with an improved 797,000.

Gotham was next, up 180,000, and Madam Secretary was third-highest, up by 163,000 viewers.

Australian drama The Code was the fourth most-watched Timeshifted show of the week, up by 161,000. That saw it improve from 564,000 to 765,000 viewers -a good result for ABC.

Arrow (up 158,000), The Good Wife (153,000), NCIS (150,000), Homeland (142,000) and Criminal Minds (142,000) followed.

Rounding out the top ten was ABC’s Upper Middle Bogan, up by another 141,000 to finish with 672,000 viewers.

Filling out the Top 20 were Resurrection (ep 2), Scorpion, Big Bang, Scott and Bailey, Wonderland, Modern Family, Resurrection (ep 1), Doctor Who (evening), Party Tricks and NCIS: New Orleans.

Meanwhile News, Reality, Sport and Factual shows all trailed scripted titles in Consolidated viewing.

The biggest non-scripted improver was Big Brother (Thursday), up by another 99,000 viewers followed by Monday and Wednesday episodes, then The Amazing Race (81,000), buried late in Seven’s Friday night schedule. The latter lifted by a lot more than Survivor (25,000) which screens in a more viewer-friendly time on GO! Big Brother‘s lift is also well in front Recipe to Riches (33,000) and The Big Adventure (30,000).

ABC2’s Room on a Broom pulled a big extra crowd of 71,000 -better than any other multichannel title.

Best improved for SBS was The Fall, up by 69,000.

By contrast some of the biggest shows in Overnights, the 6pm news, are adding a mere 7,000 viewers, emphasising their brief window of relevance.

Together with catch-up viewing on iview, Tenplay, Plus7, Jump-In and SBS On Demand, the numbers for dramas remain significant.

Consolidated viewing (commonly known as Timeshifted) counts shows that are viewed up to 7 days after their broadcast, by those in the OzTAM survey panel.

© OzTAM Pty Limited 2014. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM. 

11 Responses

  1. This makes a lot of sense to me. We watch reality TV shows on the same night or close to it because the results tend to be reported in the media. We timeshift everything because we hate ads, but we tend to start watching a reality show when it’s half over or something. We tend to put off watching the dramas, but then get really hooked on the plot twists and turns and watch several episodes back to back. Before Friday we hadn’t watched one episode of the new series of The Good Wife, but now it’s Monday and we’re caught up. We have watched a handful of episodes of The Black List this season, but most of them are still sitting on the DVR. We’re woefully behind on Revenge, with about two seasons sitting there. Big Brother will wrap up soon though and other shows will end, and we won’t have to go twiddling our thumbs waiting for good shows to return!

  2. I am recording most new shows and might watch some of them over Summer, if they look to have a future, and if reviews and/or buzz improve. After the ridiculous programming of Nurse Jackie over the weekend, I might have to start doing this with established shows too, just to make sure there is a complete season to watch.

  3. Seems like I wasn’t the only one to record Black List, because 7 started it around 9pm, +/- 10 mins. Then, when I watched it, it only took me 40 mins instead of 65mins. Advertisers should be noting that most PVR viewers will fast-forward at 32x thru commercial breaks.

  4. +7s for major dramas are way down on 2 years though. Top dramas were picking up 300k viewers back then. Once A Upon a time racked up 400k (but that may have included a repeat as well). Part of the difference will be increased catch-up viewing.

    US Network dramas are not what they used to be either. A 1 hour drama is less than 40m of action.

    New shows are often axed, older shows like Bones, Castle and TBBT are full of cheap bottle eps in between sweeps as their salaries increase and the writers run out of ideas. Bad Robot cut a lot of the expensive car smashes, fight scenes and intricate plotting out of POI, making it more of a serial drama, once it was renewed for S3 (and S4) and guaranteed syndication.

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