Nielsen has released a boatload of statistics looking back at the year that was 2006. If you want to know what the top 10 movies, digital music downloads, or cited Wikipedia entries, they've got it.
What I found most interesting was the comparison of the rankings for the top 10 regularly scheduled television programs and the top 10 programs that viewers time-shifted with a PVR, VCR, or other device. Not surprisingly, many of the shows on the live list are reality-based shows such as American Idol, which become stale if you don't watch them right away. The time-shifted list, features a lot of shows with lower ratings, many of which appear to be on the CW network. I guess time-shifters skew young?
Anyway, without further ado, here are the two lists:
Top 10 TV Programs - Regularly Scheduled - 2006 Rank Programs Network % of Homes in U.S. (Rating)
- AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY FOX 17.7
- AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY FOX 17.2
- DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC 12.7
- CSI CBS 12.0
- DANCING W/STARS RESULTS ABC 11.4
- NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL NBC 11.1
- CSI: MIAMI CBS 10.3
- DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ABC 10.2
- HOUSE FOX 10.0
- DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON NBC 9.8
- WITHOUT A TRACE CBS 9.8
- STUDIO 60 NBC 10.9
- HEROES NBC 9.1
- GILMORE GIRLS CW 7.9
- AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL CW 7.7
- 30 ROCK NBC 7.5
- FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS NBC 7.5
- NINE, THE ABC 6.7
- SUPERNATURAL CW 6.7
- KIDNAPPED NBC 6.6
- ONE TREE HILL CW 6.6
- SMALLVILLE CW 6.6
[via lost remote]
1. Interesting. A couple of things:
- Studio 60 competes head-to-head with Monday Night Football. My wife and I *love* the show, but football has to be watched live (like the ultimate reality show). I wonder how many households like us? Heroes also overlaps with MNF.
- 6 of those 11 shows are new this year. Is the DVR just a way to negate some risk that you won't like the show?
- I admit to watching Smallville, but only in close circles :-) I try not to let TV get in the way of my social life, but when the West Wing was good, I would stay home for it. It was a treat. Smallville (and I'm guessing other CW shows) are more throwaway. I tape them to watch if I have nothing else to do (like instead of cartoons on a saturday morning)
Just my 2 cents. It is interesting, though...
Posted at 10:31AM on Dec 21st 2006 by Nathan Ziarek