In DVR gains, cable takes a big lead

Back in the early days of the DVR, the conventional wisdom was that it was used almost exclusively for broadcast shows.

That was largely because the quality of cable shows a decade ago wasn’t so good and the programs weren’t worth wasting DVR space on.

Oh how things have changed.

These days cable is home to the most critically acclaimed shows on television, and cable shows are outpacing broadcast in DVR gains.

That’s according to Nielsen’s year-end TV roundup, released yesterday, which details the year’s top programs on cable and broadcast.

For the second straight year, nine out of 10 of the shows with the biggest time-shifting gains aired on cable. All of them increased by at least 100 percent when seven-day DVR playback viewership was added in.

The most-time-shifted, AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” grew by 130 percent. Fellow AMC show “Mad Men” tied with Syfy’s “Warehouse 13” for the second-biggest gain, 127 percent.

USA’s “Covert Affairs” (117 percent) and “Suits” (110 percent) rounded out the top five, and USA’s “White Collar” was tied for sixth at 108 percent.

FX had three shows in the top 10: No. 6 “Justified” (108 percent), “Sons of Anarchy” (105 percent) and “American Horror Story” (103 percent).

Fox’s “Fringe” (106 percent) was the only broadcast show to make the top 10.

The dominance of cable is striking, though certainly the argument can be made that this doesn’t tell the whole story for DVRs.

ABC’s “Modern Family” sees the biggest total gains for DVR viewership, growing by more than 4 million per week, which is more than some of these cable shows average in one episode even with the DVR viewing added in.

But it also suggests that cable viewers are truly dedicated to their shows, time-shifting them religiously to make sure they don’t miss an episode despite the fact that most cable networks repeat their originals at least once per week.

Of course, the list also reflects just how much reliance on DVRs has increased the past few years.

Last year the most-time-shifted show, FX’s “Horror,” grew 95.3 percent. In 2010 the top show, “Mad Men,” grew by only 88.7 percent.
 

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In cable ratings for the week ended Dec. 9:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): ESPN, ABC Family, TBS, A&E, USA.

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): ESPN, ABC Family, USA, Disney Channel, A&E.

Top five cable news networks in primetime (25-54): MSNBC, Fox News Channel, CNN, HLN, CNBC.

Top five cable news programs (total viewers): 1. Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.); 2. Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" (Tuesday, 8 p.m.); 3. Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" (Monday, 8 p.m.); 4. Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" (Thursday, 8 p.m.); 5. Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" (Friday, 8 p.m.)

Top movie (18-49s): ABC Family's "Despicable Me" (Saturday, 8 p.m.) 1.85 million.

Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN's "Monday Night Football: N.Y. Giants/Washington" (Monday, 8:30 p.m.) 16.21 million.

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: ESPN's "NFL Football: N.Y. Giants/Washington" (Monday, 8:30 p.m.); FX's "Sons of Anarchy" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.); NFL Network's "Broncos vs. Raiders" (Thursday, 8:30 p.m.); A&E's "Duck Dynasty" (Wednesday, 10 and 11 p.m.); ESPN's "SportsCenter" (Monday, 11:45 p.m.).

Show on the rise: Syfy's "12 Disasters of Christmas," Saturday, 9 p.m. The movie averaged 2.1 million total viewers, making it the most-watched Saturday original movie on the network since February.

Show on the decline: MTV's "Teen Mom" Monday, 10 p.m. The reality show was No. 6 for the week among 18-34s with 1.37 million viewers in the demo, but that was down 10 percent from 1.52 million the previous week.

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