Nielsen today released its first public rankings of online individual TV programs, and ABC.com’s “Lost” led the way with 1.4 million unique viewers in December. NBC.com’s “Saturday Night Live” was close behind with 1.1 million unique viewers, followed by “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC.com with 879,000 unique viewers.
Top 10 Online Broadcast TV Network Entertainment Programs* for December 2008 ranked by Unique Viewers (U.S.)

Rank
Program
Network
Unique Viewers

1
Lost
ABC.com
1,425,000

2
Saturday Night Live
NBC.com
1,111,000

3
Grey’s Anatomy
ABC.com
879,000

4
Desperate Housewives
ABC.com
723,000

5
Heroes
NBC.com
685,000

6
Ugly Betty
ABC.com
631,000

7
Samantha Who?
ABC.com
560,000

8
Scrubs
ABC.com
519,000

9
Survivor
CBS Television
496,000

10
True Beauty
ABC.com
462,000

“Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus
*Reflects video content on ABC.com, CBS Television, CWTV.com, FOX Broadcasting,
and NBC.com, …

Fall TV premieres, coupled with coverage of the presidential election and the financial crisis, boosted online video viewing at all four networks’ websites in September.
NBC.com, which grew 312% month-over-month, saw the largest September increase in video viewers, followed by FOX Broadcasting and ABC.com, with 165% and 105% growth, respectively, Nielsen Online reported Thursday.

Rank
(by UV) 
TV Network
Web Property
Unique Viewers
(in 000s)
% Change:
Unique Viewers
(Aug. – Sept. 2008)

1
NBC.com
5,557
312%

2
ABC.COM
5,246
105%

3
CBS Television
3,296
38%

4
FOX Broadcasting
1,371
165%

Source: Nielsen Online, VideoCensus (August – September 2008).

Note: Data includes progressive downloads and excludes video advertising.

“A combination of series and season premiers, political news and parodies, and coverage …