• by Wayne Friedman , April 15, 2008

Two pieces of silver lining from the writers' strike: It didn't stop viewers from watching TV, and it slowed time-shifting.

Media agency Magna Global's report, penned by TV programming analyst Steve Sternberg, said that compared to last season, total television viewing among adults 18-34 has been up 2%, while viewing among adults 18-49 is 1% improved. Viewing among adults 50 plus remained the same versus a year ago.

Also in the first quarter--when the writers' strike was in full swing--time-shifting dropped as a result of endless repeats and reality series, which typically aren't recorded as much as new and scripted shows.

Now the bad news: During the writers' strike, live viewing was down 17% to an 11.1 collective broadcast 18-49 rating, and live viewing plus seven days of DVR playback was off 15% to a 12.4 collective rating.

CBS has been getting some bad ink from business reporters lately. But its best news came when the strike ended, says Sternberg. During the strike, Magna Global says CBS relied less on reality shows and more on scripted series than other networks.

That meant it went into reruns more often, since it had less fresh programming. As a result, its numbers suffered more than most, which will contribute to the network probably losing its total viewing audience crown this season.

On the positive side, NBC fared the best in the strike--as it ran plenty of fresh reality shows, which Magna said "did either better, or only marginally worse than the scripted series it replaced."

Helping out the strength of TV viewing was increased viewing from advertising-supported cable.

Collective live household ratings perked up 5% during the strike and 3% since Sept. 24, the start of the broadcast season. For the fourth quarter 2007, 18-49 viewers climbed 4%, while 18-34 viewers doubled that rise at 8%. During the strike, younger viewers 18-34 grew 10% for cable programming.