DVRs boost ‘Five-0’ over viewer loss
CBS Television’s "Hawaii Five-0" continued to lose viewers to ABC’s "Castle," according to the final Nielsen ratings released yesterday.
But the CBS reboot of the classic crime show is getting a bigger benefit from DVRs than any other show on prime-time television, according to the Associated Press.
In an episode featuring beaches from the North Shore to Portlock, "Five-0" drew 10.23 million viewers Monday night to 11.32 million for "Castle," according to CBS. NBC’s "Chase" drew 4.89 million.
Last week, "Five-0" drew 10.94 million viewers to finish second in the hour to "Castle," which drew 10.95 million viewers. That same night, NBC’s "Chase" drew 5.18 million.
Through the first three weeks of the TV season, the Monday night drama picked up an average of 3.3 million viewers when Nielsen added people who saw the show on their digital video recorders within the next week.
"Hawaii Five-0" wasn’t one of the week’s top 10 shows through live viewing, but it becomes one when DVR usage is added in. The show is popular with men, and CBS has speculated that many of its viewers watch "Monday Night Football" live and record the drama for later.
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"This is becoming the way people are watching television," said Kelly Kahl, CBS’ chief scheduling executive. "The overnight rating may be a quick barometer of how shows are doing but not the entire story."
Two Thursday night dramas — CBS’ "The Mentalist" and ABC’s "Grey’s Anatomy" — were the next two biggest gainers from DVR usage. The only comedy among the top 10 is ABC’s "Modern Family," which is having a strong sophomore season.
"Modern Family," which has taken advantage of its Emmy Award for best comedy to start off its sophomore season strongly, is the only comedy among the top DVR’d shows.
"By and large, the most popular shows are getting more popular" through DVR usage, Kahl said.
The return of quarterback Brett Favre to Green Bay with the Minnesota Vikings brought more than 25 million viewers to Sunday night football on NBC. It was easily the week’s most popular show, the most-watched game since NBC started the Sunday night franchise five years ago and the most-watched NFL game in October in 14 years, Nielsen said.
In prime time, CBS was the most popular network for the fifth week in a row, Nielsen said. CBS has won among all viewers and in key demographics for every week of the new TV season so far. That’s the longest season-opening streak for a broadcast network since 1997.
With Fox airing baseball’s World Series starting today, a sixth week in a row could be difficult for CBS.
CBS averaged 11.6 million viewers (7.1 rating, 12 share).
ABC was second with 8.9 million (5.6, 9), NBC had 8 million (5.0, 8), Fox had 7.5 million (4.5, 8), the CW had 2.1 million (1.3, 2) and ION Television had 1.2 million (0.8, 1).
A ratings point represents 1,159,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 115.9 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
For the week of Oct. 18-24, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships were: NFL Football: Minnesota at Green Bay, NBC, 25.68 million; "NCIS," CBS, 19.41 million; "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 19.34 million; "Dancing with the Stars," ABC, 19.33 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 16 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 15.79 million; "Dancing with the Stars Results," ABC, 15.53 million; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 14.96 million; "Criminal Minds," CBS, 14.46 million; and "The Mentalist," CBS, 14.42 million.
NBC’s "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.9 million viewers (5.2, 11). ABC’s "World News" was second with 6.9 million (4.7, 10), and "CBS Evening News" had 5.3 million viewers (3.6, 7).