Time-Shifting Boosts CBS Prime-Time Viewing By 53%

by Wayne Friedman , August 1, 2017

Beverly Hills, Calif. -- Gleaning data from Nielsen’s evolving Total Content Ratings, CBS touts strong time-shifted viewing from traditional TV platforms for the recently completed 2016-2017 TV season.

The announcement was made at the Television Critics Association meeting in Beverly Hills, California.

CBS says for the full TV season, time-shifted viewing boosted its initial airing of TV episodes by 53%, totaling an average of 12.1 million prime-time viewers for Nielsen’s metric of live program-plus 35 days of time-shifted viewing across multiple platforms -- VOD, TV, and DVR.

CBS’ live-plus same-day time-shifted viewing averages 7.9 million viewers. The 35-day metric is also 15% more than the 10.5 million live-program plus seven-day average.

This is not the total picture, as it does not include online and mobile viewing.

But David Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp. and president of CBS Vision, stated: “Now that YouTube TV and Hulu’s new TV streaming services are being counted by Nielsen, we expect an even greater boost in our viewership numbers going forward, along with more opportunities to monetize delayed viewing.”

Among the biggest shows gaining the full 35-day metric: “Big Bang Theory” improved 66% from its initial live air to total 23.3 million; “NCIS” was up 43% to 21.0 million; “Bull” added 57% to 17.9 million; “Blue Bloods” gained 64% more to 16.3 million; and “NCIS: New Orleans” soared 60% to 15.3 million.

broadcast networks, media measurement, metrics, nielsen, time shifting, tv

2 comments about "Time-Shifting Boosts CBS Prime-Time Viewing By 53% ".

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Darrin Stephens from McMann & Tate, August 2, 2017 at 9:48 a.m.
Some of the lift isn't actually "time-shifting." It's reruns of the same episode on CBS within the 35 day window.
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John Grono from GAP Research, August 3, 2017 at 9:39 a.m.

Darrin, here in Australia the re-runs would be reported separately. The only way they would be aggregated under our system is if the ad load, ad content and ad order (including station promos and idents) were exactly the same.

I'm unsure how the US does it though.