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Nielsen’s Tops of 2011 Television

3 minute read | December 2011

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

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