TV commercial ratings of prime-time shows closely followed the trend of live-plus-same-day program ratings for the first week of the season -- which have shown declines versus a year ago. This year, commercial ratings -- in some cases -- outperformed live program ratings.Both the C3 and live program ratings for the first week were down on average 17% versus the year before. The only network showing improvement was NBC, 11% higher among Nielsen 18-49 live program viewers than the year before.C3 ratings, the currency for TV advertising deals, are the average of all commercial minutes through three days of live and time-shifted viewing. Generally, C3 has trailed that of live-plus-same-day program ratings by small viewer totals over the last several years. But that is no longer true for all networks.For the first week, NBC was at a 3.0 C3 rating and a 3.1 live-plus-same-day prime-time program rating. CBS -- which witnessed the steepest drop of 23% -- had a 2.3 C3 number and a 2.4 live-plus-same-day program rating.But Fox and ABC witnessed a different story with both their respective C3 rating higher than their live-plus-same-day program ratings. Fox, which was down 19% on its ratings measures, had a 2.5 average C3 number and a 2.4 live-plus-same-day program rating. ABC, down 21%, posted a 2.3 C3 rating and a 2.2 live-plus-same-day program rating.Some of the shows with the biggest disparity between their C3 and live program-same-day ratings include NBC's rookie show "Revolution," which had a 3.8 C3 18-49 rating in the first week and a 3.4 18-49 live program rating. Fox's "Family Guy" had a 3.7 C3 rating and a 3.3 live program rating. CBS' "Elementary" had a 3.4 C3 rating and a 3.1 live program rating. ABC's "Last Resort" was at a 2.4 C3 number and a 2.2 live program rating.Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate research director for media agency Horizon Media, believes the difference between the two numbers essentially means viewers may not be fast-forwarding through as many commercials as previously estimated.CBS has estimated that zapping through TV ads has been dropping, now to just over 50%. Early projections of DVR use had put fast-forwarding of commercials as high as 70%.