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Nielsen’s Tops of 2011: Television

alana — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:05:22 +0000

The Super Bowl and American Idol continue to capture the attention of U.S. TV viewers. According to Nielsen’s Top 10s, Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers was the top individual telecast of 2011 with 111 million viewers, making it the most-watched telecast of all-time. FOX’s American Idol remains the top primetime program, a spot it’s held since its fifth season in 2007.

Meanwhile, the value of timeshifted viewing was evident in 2011 as select programs nearly doubled their audience when factoring in viewing from sources such as DVR, video-on-demand and StartOver. Newcomer FX’s American Horror Story gained the highest audience share through timeshifted viewing in 2011.

Among the most engaging programs of 2011, NBC’s Chuck had the majority of online buzz with a 54 percent share of mentions, according to NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company.

Top 10 TV Programs – Single Telecast
Rank	Telecast	Originator	Date Aired	Persons 2+ Rating	Total Viewers (000)
1	FOX Super Bowl XLV	FOX	2/6/2011	37.7	111,041
2	FOX Super Bowl XLV Kickoff	FOX	2/6/2011	23.6	69,666
3	FOX Super Bowl Post Game	FOX	2/6/2011	22.4	66,030
4	AFC Championship on CBS	CBS	1/23/2011	18.6	54,850
5	FOX NFC Championship	FOX	1/23/2011	17.6	51,884
6	AFC Divisional Playoff-SU	CBS	1/16/2011	14.8	43,463
7	AFC Championship Pre-Kick on CBS	CBS	1/23/2011	13.4	39,473
8	FOX NFC Wild Card Game	FOX	1/9/2011	13.3	39,274
9	Academy Awards	ABC	2/27/2011	12.9	37,922
10	FOX Super Bowl Pre	FOX	2/6/2011	11.9	35,136
Source: Nielsen Data from January 1, 2011 – November 27, 2011. English- and Spanish-language telecasts on Broadcast and Cable. Persons 2+ estimates include Live and Same Day timeshifted viewing. Excludes telecasts under 5 minutes in duration. Read as: Super Bowl XLV on Fox averaged 111 million viewers (37.7% of U.S. TV viewers aged 2 years and older).

Top 10 Primetime TV Programs – Regularly Scheduled
Rank	Program	Originator	Persons 2+ Rating	Total Viewers (000)
1	American Idol-Wednesday	FOX	8.1	23,946
2	American Idol-Thursday	FOX	7.5	22,009
3	NBC Sunday Night Football	NBC	7.1	20,547
4	Dancing with The Stars	ABC	6.7	19,576
5	Dancing w/ Stars Results	ABC	5.8	16,856
6	Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick	NBC	5.5	15,918
7	NCIS	CBS	5.2	15,174
8	NFL Regular Season L	ESPN	4.5	13,058
9	The OT	FOX	4.4	12,877
10	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	4.3	12,635
Source: Nielsen Data from January 1, 2011 – November 27, 2011. Primetime English- and Spanish-language programs on Broadcast and Cable. Persons 2+ estimates include Live and Same Day timeshifted viewing. Excludes programs with less than 4 telecasts and those under 5 minutes in duration. Read as: American Idol-Wednesday on Fox averaged 23.9 million viewers (8.1% of U.S. TV viewers aged 2 years and older).

Top 10 Timeshifted Primetime TV Programs
Rank	Program	Originator	% Increase in Viewers from Timeshifted Viewing
1	American Horror Story	FX	95.3
2	Covert Affairs	USA	95.1
3	Suits	USA	94.5
4	Franklin & Bash	TNT	92.0
5	Psych	USA	90.3
6	Sons of Anarchy	FX	85.8
7	White Collar	USA	85.6
8	Justified	FX	83.9
9	Fringe	FOX	80.3
10	The Glades	AEN	78.8
Source: Nielsen Data from January 1, 2011 – November 13, 2011. Regularly scheduled English- and Spanish-language programs on Broadcast and Cable. Percent increase in Persons 2+ viewership is based on difference between Live+7 and Live. A program must reach at least a 1.0 Live+7 P2+ Rating and have at least 4 telecasts. Read as: 95 percent more viewers (persons aged 2 years and older) watched American Horror Story on FX via timeshifted viewing than Live

Top 10 Most Engaging Primetime Television Programs
Rank	Program	Network	Genre	Share of Buzz Volume
1	Grimm	NBC	Drama/Adventure	2%
2	Suburgatory	ABC	Situation Comedy	4%
3	Desperate Housewives	ABC	Drama/Adventure	16%
4	Parenthood	NBC	Drama/Adventure	4%
5	Royal Pains	USA	Drama/Adventure	2%
6	Chuck	NBC	Drama/Adventure	54%
7	Revenge	ABC	Drama/Adventure	7%
8	White Collar	USA	Drama/Adventure	6%
9	Rescue Me	FX	Drama/Adventure	2%
10	Covert Affairs	USA	Drama/Adventure	3%
Source: Nielsen and NM Incite Nielsen program engagement Data from January 1 – December 5, 2011. Program Engagement is the percentage of viewers who can recall within 24 hours the network content they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing TV. Includes regularly scheduled entertainment series with at least three telecasts, original airings and repeats. Networks included: A&E, ABC, BRVO, CBS, CMDY, CW, DSC, ESPN, FOOD, FOX, FX, HGTV, HIST, LIFE, MTV, NBC, NICK, SPEED, SYFY, TBS, TLC, TNT, USA, VH1 NM Incite buzz data from January 1 – December 18, 2011. Share of buzz volume among top 10 most engaging primetime programs only

Top 10 Primetime TV Programs – Regularly Scheduled

Amazing Race, Apprentice, Idol, Dominate Reality Show Product Placement

Nielsen Wire — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:24:40 +0000

For the period April 13 through May 10, brand placements in the reality shows The Amazing Race, Celebrity Apprentice, and American Idol featured strong product placement recall. While the Amazing Race’s integration of Travelocity posted the highest index, American Idol’s partnerships with Coca Cola and Ford accounted for five of the top 10 most recalled placements.

Most Recalled In-Program Placements: Reality Show April 13-May 10
RANK	Brand	In-Program Placement Description	Program Airing Info	Recall Index
1	Travelocity	Online travel service awards Galapagos Islands trip to Tammy and Victor for arriving in first place	The Amazing Race (CBS, May 3)	162
2	Playboy Magazine	Brande Roderick is identified as a Playmate throughout the episode	The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC, May 3)	159
3	Playboy Magazine	Brande Roderick is identified as a Playmate throughout the episode	The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC, May 10)	153
4	CVS Pharmacy	Box with pharmacy logo is carried into the Cooper house	Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC, May 3)	151
5	Coca-Cola	Cups sit on judges’ table during contestant performances	American Idol (FOX, April 28)	151
6	Coca-Cola	Cups sit on judges’ table during contestant performances	American Idol (FOX, May 5)	148
7	Ford	Ryan Seacrest tells viewers they can win a Fusion at AmericanIdol.com	American Idol (FOX, April 29)	141
8	Coca-Cola	Name appears in on-screen graphic during Ryan Seacrest’s interviews with Allison and Kris	American Idol (FOX, May 5)	139
9	Coca-Cola	Cups sit on judges’ table during contestant performances	American Idol (FOX, May 6)	139
10	Coca-Cola	Name appears in on-screen graphic during Ryan Seacrest’s interviews with Allison and Matt	American Idol (FOX, April 28)	132
source: Nielsen IAG The Nielsen IAG Top 10 Most Recalled In-Program Placements focuses on brand/product placements occurring in Realities on the broadcast networks during the April 13 to May 10 period. The Recall Score is the percentage of television viewers who can recall within 24 hours the brand/product of an In-Program placement they were exposed to during the normal course of viewing reality shows. These scores are then indexed against the mean score for all placements occurring in this genre during the time period (Recall Index). 100 equals average. Note: For this analysis, In-Program placements were only considered if the occurrence had visual elements (i.e., was “seen” on-screen) or both visual and auditory elements (i.e., was both “seen” and “mentioned”). Only first-run episodes were considered. Both planned and incidental exposures were included.

Tops In 2008: Top TV Programs, Single Telecasts

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:20:57 +0000

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.

FOX’s “American Idol” was the top TV program of 2008, according to Nielsen. Tuesday night broadcasts of “American Idol,” through December 7, drew 15.5% of U.S. TV households, on average, while Wednesday night “American Idol” broadcasts drew an average of 15.3% of all TV households.

Viewers with DVR access gave NBC’s “Heroes” the biggest bump any primetime program received in 2008. The average TV audience for “Heroes” increased by 35% when timeshifted viewing within seven days of a program’s original air date was factored into Nielsen’s ratings. FOX’s “Fringe” and ABC’s “Lost” also drew large audience boosts — +26% and +25%, respectively — from DVR viewers.

The 2008 Superbowl, which drew 43.1% of all U.S. TV households, was the most popular single telecast of 2008.

Top 10 TV Programs – Regularly Scheduled

Rank	Program	Network	% of Homes In U.S. (Rating)
1	AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY	FOX	15.5%
2	AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY	FOX	15.3%
3	DANCING WITH THE STARS	ABC	12.3%
4	DANCING W/STARS RESULTS	ABC	11.4%
5	MENTALIST, THE	CBS	10.0%
6	NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL	NBC	10.0%
7	CSI	CBS	8.1%
8	NCIS	CBS	8.0%
9	60 MINUTES	CBS	7.6%
10	SURVIVOR: GABON	CBS	7.6%
Source: The Nielsen Company (January 1 – December 7, 2008).
Note: Household Ratings include Live and Same Day timeshifted viewing. Data excludes telecasts under five minutes.

Top 10 TV Programs – Single Telecast

Rank	Telecast	Network	Date Aired	% Of Homes In U.S. (Rating)
1	FOX SUPER BOWL XLII	FOX	2/3/2008	43.1%
2	FOX SUPER BOWL POST GAME	FOX	2/3/2008	30.1%
3	FOX NFC CHAMPIONSHIP	FOX	1/20/2008	29.0%
4	SUMMER OLYMPICS TUE PRIME 1	NBC	8/12/2008	20.0%
5	FOX NFC PLAYOFF-PST-SUN	FOX	1/13/2008	18.8%
6	SUMMER OLYMPICS OPEN CEREM	NBC	8/8/2008	18.8%
7	ACADEMY AWARDS	ABC	2/24/2008	18.7%
8	SUMMER OLYMPICS SUN PRIME 1	NBC	8/10/2008	18.1%
9	AFC DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF	CBS	1/12/2008	17.9%
10	SUMMER OLYMPICS THU PRIME 1	NBC	8/14/2008	17.9%
Source: The Nielsen Company (January 1 – December 7, 2008).
Note: Household Ratings include Live and Same Day timeshifted viewing. Data excludes telecasts under five minutes.

Top 10 “Timeshifted” Primetime TV Programs

Rank	Program	Network	% Increase In Viewership
1	HEROES	NBC	35%
2	FRINGE	FOX	26%
3	LOST	ABC	25%
4	BONES	FOX	21%
5	GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM	ABC	20%
6	HOUSE	FOX	18%
7	SURVIVOR: GABON	CBS	18%
8	AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY	FOX	13%
9	MENTALIST, THE	CBS	13%
10	AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY	FOX	12%
Source: The Nielsen Company (January 1 – November 23, 2008).
Note: Percent Increase in viewership is based on absolute difference between Live Household Ratings and Live+7.

View the press release.

Relive the greatest hits of 2008 — stay tuned on Nielsen Wire for more Tops In 2008 coverage.

Look ahead to the new year with Nielsen Wire’s 2009 Industry Outlook series.

Product Placements Drop 15% During First Half Of 2008

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:00:42 +0000

Product placements on primetime broadcast and cable TV programs fell by almost 15% on primetime programming during the first half of 2008, as compared with the same time period last year, Nielsen reported Monday.

Broadcast television placements grew by almost 12% between January and June of 2008, while placements on cable television declined by 20%.

Changes in program line-ups accounted for the growth of broadcast placements — and the decrease in cable placements.

On the broadcast side, two programs with a significant number of product placements aired more episodes in early 2008, boosting the overall number of placements in the first half of the year. NBC’s “Biggest Loser,” which normally airs in the fall, moved the start of its fifth season up to January 2008, while FOX’s “Hell’s Kitchen” started its fifth season in April, several months earlier than it did in 2007.

On the cable side, shows like TLC’s “American Chopper” and “Miami Ink,” MTV’s “Run’s House” and “Pimp My Ride,” and A&E’s “Driving Force” and “Dog The Bounty Hunter,” which featured a large number of product placements in early 2007, aired less frequently or were removed from cable primetime line-ups during the first half of 2008.

Overall, 204,919 product placements aired on broadcast and cable TV programs between January and June of 2008.

Nielsen’s report includes data for 11 networks, including ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, MNT, NBC, A&E, Bravo, HGTV, MTV, and TLC.

View the full press release.

Read more about product placement trends in Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” newsletter.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Condé Nast Portfolio, Ad Age, Variety, The New York Times, Multichannel News, Broadcasting & Cable, The Globe and Mail, and MediaPost.