How NBC Measures Chuck’s Ratings

NBC has allowed access to their reports showing how the network measures their shows’ ratings. The system is called TAMi – Total Audience Measurement index. TAMi counts the number of “exposures” an episode has, including duplicate viewings, across multiple platforms – traditional broadcast television, DVR viewership within 7 days of broadcast, Internet streaming (via NBC.com, Hulu and NBC Direct), and Video On Demand. Chuck fans already knew NBC looked at more than the Nielsen ratings when analyzing a show’s worth, and now we can get a clearer picture of what all they take into account.

Here’s how Chuck‘s first two episodes measure up as of October 3 (the most recent data available):

4.01 – 9,827,025 total exposures (TV/DVR: 8,958,000; online: 655,861; On Demand: 213,164)

4.02 – 8,865,543 total exposures (TV/DVR: 8,232,000; online: 494,650; On Demand: 138,893)

Please note that all platforms experience data delivery lags. For example, earlier episodes have 2-7 day time-shifted data and are available longer on alternative platforms and therefore, can accumulate more exposures.

For comparison, here are the numbers for Undercovers and Parenthood, NBC’s two other hour-long scripted shows airing at 8PM.

Parenthood:

2.01 - 18,002,822 total exposures (TV/DVR – includes broadcast repeat: 17,058,000; online: 580,787; EST: 4,435; On Demand: 359,600)

2.02 – 9,545,386 total exposures (TV/DVR: 8,796,000; online: 429,747; EST: 3,298; On Demand: 316,341)

2.03 – 7,750,255 total exposures (TV/DVR: 7,188,000; online: 341,143; EST: 2,803; On Demand: 218,309)

Undercovers:

1.01 – 13,366,334 total exposures (TV/DVR: 12,759,000; online: 364,964; On Demand: 242,370)

1.02 – 10,968,444 total exposures (TV/DVR: 10,715,000; online: 174,619; On Demand: 78,825)

Updated: As requested below, here is the source information NBC gives for the numbers on this report:

Sources:
Television: TV ROCS; NBC broadcast data is based on Nielsen P2+ TA Impressions using Live + TSV (L7: 9/1/10-9/19/10; LS: 9/1/10-10/3/10). NBCU Cable data is based on Nielsen P2+ Average Audience impressions using Live + TSV (L7: 9/1/10-9/19/10; LS: 9/1/10-10/3/10 only episodes airing in primetime).

Internet Streaming Video: [1] NBC.com/Omniture: data is counted based on a 1 stream to 1 episode start relationship and does not count individual chapters (9/1/10-10/3/10); [2] Hulu.com data is counted based on a 1 stream to 1 episode relationship and does not count individual chapters (9/1/10-10/3/10); [3] NBC Direct: Total # of downloads (STD – 10/3/10).

VMD: [1] VOD: Rentrak Ondemand Essentials (9/1/10-10/3/10); [2] Downloads: Carrier Direct (9/1/10-10/3/10)

*Note: We don’t have EST rights and/or not available on EST: Chase, Chuck, Undercovers, Community, Celebrity Apprentice/Apprentice.

*qualifications available upon request

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35 comments

  1. I saw someone had posted a photo of this on Twitter.

    There was a very detailed footnote that explained where all the numbers came from. Is there any way you can publish the footnote, so that fans can understand these numbers better?

    Thanks.

  2. Dude, if they allow people outside the United States to watch episodes on nbc.com/chuck, those online numbers would SKYROCKET. I’m from the Philippines and the only way to watch the latest Chuck episode is either via online streaming from a shady source or download the episode via torrent.

    I don’t think that would show up in the numbers.

    How can I make sure that when I do watch Chuck, the NBC brass knows about it?

    I’m not so sure about the numbers, but I stick with my show: CHUCK for the win.

    • Emily, it’s unfortunate for international fans, but there is nothing you can do to aid the numbers.

    • I am sure it is the advertisers fault, they probably are only willing to pay for American viewers. I have heard that there are ways to trick the site into thinking you are in America but I am not sure how to do it.

      There are other things international fans can do to help the show, I have a list of all the things everyone can do at my blog http://savechucknow.wordpress.com/1-2/ some of which apply to international fans

    • Hi, emily! i’m from the Philippines, too! we share the same sentiment: if only we could help with the ratings. I love Chuck, I’m a solid Chuck-and-Sarah fan, and I really hope we could still count somehow…

    • You’re right Emily! I’m from Mexico and it’s the same thing here: I love the show but I can’t help it with numbers 🙁

  3. Now this has me worried.

    Why would NBC send you this info ? They are trying to prove a point here.
    Mainly…Chuck is seen by less people than Parenthood and Undercovers.

    I’m hoping that at the end of the day, adults 18-49 will be the most important factor that’s being used to judge the value of a show. Because it’s the one advantage we have over other shows like Undercovers and Chase.

    Anyways, I guess we will know within the next couple of weeks if we get additional eps.

    • That’s exactly what I thought. Feeling more and more less optimistic about the back episodes.

    • NBC makes this information available to all of their press affiliates now. My point in making this available is to provide a clearer picture of how NBC looks at their shows. They don’t only look at the Nielsens, they look at a much bigger picture. Also, Chuck’s numbers when all of these platforms are factored in still remain stable while, for example, these other two 8PM shows are declining quickly.

    • It looks to me that Chuck performed as well if not better against episodes 2.02 and 2.03 of Parenthood and did not experience the sharp dropoff that Parenthood did. Chuck’s time slot is horrible and NBC probably takes that into account. Being up against Monday Night Football, Dancing With the Stars, and 2 CBS hit comedies would be murder on most shows where Chuck seems to at least hold it’s own there.

      • I got the same overall impression from comparing the numbers, Renita. And it’s good to know they do take other media into account. The only sobering bit of info seems to be that there aren’t as many not-broadcast-TV hits as we might have hoped. Well, Chuck fans are good with computers, right? So that can be fixed. 😉

      • I agree fully with the horrible timeslot. Most people much rather watch a live football game or egotistical dance show than a TV show they can just watch the next day or later thru DVR.

      • Yeah, the timeslot is the one huge mistake NBC keeps making. Don’t forget that it’s also up against House, which is actually it’s biggest competition. If NBC does take the bad timeslot into account, that’s some good news. It’s also nice to hear that they don’t only look at the Nielsen ratings. The timeslot is also the reason why Chuck’s ratings increase quite a bit when the DVR ratings are counted. A lot of people watch football or House while recording Chuck to watch it later. A situation that I would like to see happen if NBC does cancel Chuck, then maybe CBS or Fox picks it up, like CBS did with Medium, and they air it on a different night, and Chuck’s ratings go way up. Now, obviously there’s no guarantee that another network would pick it up if NBC cancels it, so I hope this situation never happens. But I’m just saying, if worse comes to worse and NBC cancels it I would like to see this happen.

      • On the surface it may look like NBC is making a mistake with the timeslot, but the reality is that Chuck is the only show that’s been able to perform with any stability for NBC at 8PM on Mondays in the last few years. Why put another show there only to see it get obliterated when you have a known quantity that can deliver steady if not spectacular ratings?

    • Don’t read too much into why the data was provided. NBC made TAMi data for Chuck, The Event, Chase, Biggest Loser, Parenthood and their other shows readily available at the NBC Universal Media Village. Check it out at https://www.nbcumv.com/mv/, select TAMi and checkout the presentation they saved as a PDF.

      BTW, one interesting thing to note is the actual impact of Internet streaming on live viewership for their shows. It’s a much smaller fraction of total viewership then some people may think.

      • Yes, by “us” I was referring to reporters in general, not just ChuckTV.net. I re-worded that above to clear up any confusion.

      • Mel’s right
        Chuck for one side had better ratings than parenthood and for the other while the ratings for parenthood and undercovers sank extremly,
        The ratings for chuck stood right stable
        so I think we can be optmistic and do whatever we can to help our favourite show!

  4. Season 4 starts in the UK next week and the write up for the first episode is showing 1/19 episodes so the back 6 must have already been picked up!!

    • I saw this too. Didn’t want to get my hopes up though. Could just be the TV guide getting overly optimistic.

  5. hi there,
    so, by this numbers, what could happen, what kind of info is nedded to cancel a show?
    because those are big numbers, add to “nielsen ratings”.

    anyway, i can´t help from portugal, with the numbers, but i do can talk a lot on internet about it.

    great info to share, by the way.

    excellent weekend!

  6. Chuck is really holding their audience with a minimal promo, a horrible time slot and facing several master shows like Dancing with the Stars.I sincerely hope that NBC takes in consideration the “quality” of those who really watch Chuck and are fans, not only the Americans (who make the numbers) but also the international ones, mainly in Europe and Brasil(UK, Italy, Portugal,France, Germany…)
    I still think Chuck is the best show that has ever shown up and probably the only one that catch so many fans all around the world.
    regards

  7. ok the online ratings I know they count nbc.com but do they count the views on hulu if not they should

  8. Thanks for posting this info. It is greatly appreciated.

  9. BTW, will NBC release data to you regarding the amount of exposures those Honda Olympics commercials starring Awesome, Ellie and Morgan? I’m curious how many views those got.

    Also, how many views did the Event promo starring Chuck, Sarah and Morgan get?

    I am most curious as to the effectiveness of the commercials containing Chuck characters. Though given the Event’s ratings trend, I guess that promo wasn’t that successful…

  10. Thanks for this info, Mel…the numbers for the other shows may be higher, but it’s good to see that Chuck is holding steady, and that NBC is definitely looking at more than just the Nielsen ratings. In today’s world of DVRs, Hulu, iTunes and Zune Marketplace, it simply makes sense that they look at more than just the (in my opinion) outmoded Nielsen system.

  11. Hi everyone to start with I am not a TV person I think there is just far too much crap out there to bother waisting my time. That being said Chuck is one of the very few shows that I make sure I watch. Now about these numbers there is one I do not understand…… parent hood numbers : includes broadcast repeat: 17,058,000 what does that mean exactly, is this number inflated because it repeated???? Sorry if this is a dumb question but like I said I do not watch TV. Hope we get more chuck

  12. If the other shows were competing with Dancing with the Stars I doubt they would look as good as Chuck. Chuck needs to have some promo dollars to increase viewership–we all need to do our part to get back some of the old viewers or go after some new viewers. Perhaps NBC feels the hardcore Chuck fans will stick around and they want to spend their bucks on obatining viewers for other shows. I am still hoping for an extended season 4 and additional seasons.

  13. The technical details provide interesting information.

    The TV exposures are calculated differently than is normally done with the ratings and that is why they appear higher than what is usually referred to a “rating”.

    Note that it says ” Nielsen P2+ TA Impressions using Live + TSV (L7: 9/1/10-9/19/10; LS: 9/1/10-10/3/10)”

    “TA” stands for “Total Audience”. A typical rating is an “AA”, which stands for Average Audience. Average Audience is the number of people tuned in during the average minute within a program. In a typical show, people tune in and out. Sometimes a person will tune in for 5 minutes and change the channel. Other people may watch the whole show. Average Audience takes all the minutes and averages them. That’s a typical rating.

    Total audience–which these numbers are–accumulate all the people who watched any portion of the show, even if they didn’t watch for a long time.

    As someone else pointed out, they are also accumulating all airings of a show. So, if a show ran twice–as Parenthood did–it has even higher impressions(exposures).

    So, if people are wondering why these numbers appear higher than what they usually see in the press, that’s why.

    To me, it’s even more valuable to see what the online and VOD exposures are.

    But, I don’t know what NBC is really using the TV numbers for. Of course, a show that runs twice is going to get higher exposures than one that ran once.

  14. Isn’t Parenthood a 10pm show? I don’t watch the show, but I thought it aired after Biggest Loser on Tuesdays. Unless they repeat it at 8pm on Saturday…

  15. If you DVR and watch live does it count for 2?

    • Good question. I oughta try that to jack up the ratings (although I don’t have a Nielsen box… Wish I did so I actually counted to them…) But if it did, then why stop at two? Get my drift?

  16. hey mel i was wondering if (and i really really hope this doesnt happen) chuck gets cancelled can another channel pick chuck up …like they did for scrubs and futurama????

  17. “data is counted based on a 1 stream to 1 episode start relationship and does not count individual chapters”

    what does it exactly mean? i just have to watch the video for 5 sec and it counts as i have watched the whole thing? what if i do it multiple times? does it count to multiple viewings? or 1 video = 1 time = 1 IP?

    if it has some restrictions (all of them), then i’d like you to welcome to my world, our world, the computer world.
    right now you have an IP address. it’s your digital signature, given by your “trustworthy” ISP provider. that’s how some sites know where you’re from (and block you, like NBC or HULU). basically, it’s some stupid thing that YOU CAN CHANGE. welcome to the world of PROXIES.

    proxies are fake IP addresses. it’s not difficult to use them and they are safe (slower connection at times, but does the job. i watch Chuck on NBC and HULU xP). just google a little and learn more…

    i know there are atleast 100 000 people who d/l Chuck via torrents. if you are one of them, remember to support the Chuck team by watching it online too. at times you have to do the silly stuff that seems like a waste of time (and internet speed) to get what you want (which is another season of Chuck and then some more).

    i know the Chuck world and it’s people. we are desperate. we got something good and we don’t want to lose it.

    sorry for this long post. i just wanted to tell you what i had in my mind and what could help us, nothing more. we need to keep this show alive !

    oh, and Yvonne Strahovski fans, high five!!!!!!! xD

  18. When will we find out If we get the back episodes?