NBC, with 52% of its primetime programming viewed out of pattern, had the least time-shifted prime among the Big Five, according to TiVo’s State of TV report, which reflects the fourth quarter of 2015. Fox weighs in at 56%, then ABC at 63%, CBS at 64% and The CW tops at 78%. Notably, The CW surpasses all cable networks in terms of time-shifting in prime, according to TiVo.
Top time-shifted broadcast series were The Flash, Arrow and The Vampire Diaries, all on CW.
The most time-shifted cable network in terms of prime was Bravo (69%), followed by BBC America and AMC (60%), FX (59%) and Syfy (58%). Weather Channel, ESPN, Sprout and TBS were among the least time shifted.
Top time-shifted cable series were BBC America’s Doctor Who, FX’s Fargo and Freeform’s Switched at Birth.
The data was gathered from an anonymous sample of 350,000 TiVo DVRs in October-December.
The study also looked at ratings when viewership on days 4-7 was added to the live-plus-3 figures. Nine out of the ten biggest gainers in audience by this measure were either Fox or CW programs, with Fox’s Minority Report and Gotham tops, followed by The Flash, Vampire Diaries and The Originals on CW. ABC’s Quantico, at No. 6, was the lone non-Fox or CW series in the top 10.
CBS, meanwhile, had the top two streamed shows in the quarter in The Big Bang Theory and NCIS, followed by AMC’s The Walking Dead, ABC’s Modern Family and NBC’s The Voice.
Big Bang Theory was also tops among OnePass Ranker shows—the programs viewers automatically record each week via their Tivo. It was followed by Modern Family, The Blacklist, The Walking Dead, NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy, Blindspot, The Voice, Quantico and The Good Wife.
TiVo called it a “modest” fall season, without a breakout hit for broadcasters, but lots of viewer interest in political debates.
