In DVR Ratings, Some Shows Find Good News

The DVR playback ratings for the third week of the television season arrived Monday and provided much good news for seemingly troubled shows like “The Event” and “Parenthood” on NBC and “Fringe” on Fox, while also sending many successful shows up to ratings well into hit territory.

Among that group was ABC’s “Modern Family,” which became the highest rated show on television among viewers from the ages of 18 to 49 when playback was added, soaring to a 6.1 rating, and “Grey’s Anatomy,” also on ABC, which gained 1.4 rating points and also climbed above the 6-rating level.

Other shows that received significant boosts included “The Office” and “30 Rock” (both up 36 percent) on NBC, and “The Mentalist” (up 36 percent) and “Hawaii Five-0 (up 31 percent) on CBS.

In terms of total viewers added, “Five-O” added the most with 3.13 million additional viewers. CBS, already the most-watched network, had eight of the Top 15 shows in terms of adding viewers with playback.

But the enhanced numbers are probably most significant for shows that have been attracting increasing sniping in the press because of modest to weak numbers for their first day of viewing. “The Event,” for example, the most touted new show on NBC, has been cited for falling to somewhat dangerously low levels after its first big week on the air.

But the series, which is in one of the most competitive time slots of television, having to face off against the hits “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC and “Two and a Half Men” on CBS, as well as the formidable “Monday Night Football on ESPN, has, so far at least, seemed to build an audience of viewers who record the show to watch later.

In week three of the season, “The Event” scored only a 2.4 rating in that 18-49 measure for its initial day’s telecast — a number that is below the network’s average. But with playback for seven days included, the drama climbed to a 3.3 rating, which made it NBC’s best new show of the season and second only to “The Office” and “Sunday Night Football” on NBC’s weekly schedule. Far from being in danger of cancellation, “The Event” could claim to be an early success, based on its time-shifted viewing.

Similarly, two hold-over series, “Parenthood” on NBC and “Fringe” on Fox, saw their numbers increase by more than 40 percent when the delayed viewing was counted, moving them from endangered species to likely survivors.