• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 6, 2016

Even if you can’t identify any “super” viewership at TV shows these days, networks will continue to offer messaging about their potential power -- in more subtle ways.

This Monday night, at 8 p.m., three TV shows -- with perhaps a smirk from some executives -- competed against each other: NBC’s debut “Superstore,” CBS’ “Supergirl,” and Fox’s “Superhuman.”

Yes, we at TV Watch don’t miss a thing -- though this wasn’t much of a super big deal.

For its part, NBC’s “Superstore,” a new comedy, did fairly well in its premiere outing against the two dramas. A Nielsen live program plus same day data reading was at a 1.7 rating/6 share and 6.0 million overall viewers.

CBS’s “Supergirl” was a bit better, at 1.8/6 (8.8 million overall viewers); and Fox’ “Superhuman” from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., got 1.2/4 and 3.6 million total viewers.

Network executives will continue to tell you that, despite overall weak live/same day data, their shows are still strong -- for the long term. That really means viewing through 7, 14 or 30 days and beyond.

For example CBS now says it holds the record for time-shifted viewing from days two through seven (after its live/same day airing)  for its “Big Bang Theory” comedy. It pulled in 7.18 million viewers for those time-shifted viewing days, besting the record held by ABC’s “How to Get Away With Murder,” which pulled in 6.95 million.

The special episode of “Big Bang” that featured Sheldon and Amy’s big “romantic” night pulled in 24.43 million viewers in total, live program through seven days, a 42% rise over the episode Nielsen live plus same day numbers.

So what if TV viewers aren’t all watching on the same day at the same time-- as long as they watch? Right? Now, the networks just need more TV advertisers to pay for all this viewing.

More pressing is getting the word out about networks’ strength in regards to their sturdy viewership for “premium” video content -- something digital media video operators continue to salivate over.

But selling this marketing message to TV viewers and business executives continues to be tough in a real-time, ever-immediate digital media world.