RATINGS: Chuck Episode 5.02 Sees 44% Increase with DVR Viewership

The +7 numbers (e.g. viewers who watched a show on a DVR within 7 days of the original airdate) for the week of November 7-13 were released today, and the show another significant bump for Chuck. In the 18-49 demo, the one that advertisers cater to, “Chuck vs. the Bearded Bandit” went from a 0.9 rating to a 1.3 rating when DVR viewers were added, an increase of 44%.  (Overall viewership numbers weren’t available.) That means almost half of Chuck‘s demo audience isn’t watching during the Friday timeslot.

Although the increase doesn’t change the fact that this is Chuck‘s final season, it is interesting to see just how many viewers are relying on time-shifting now that the series is airing on Fridays. The most relevant Live +7 results I could find from season 4 were from the Monday, November 22 episode, which saw just 29% of viewers waiting to watch Chuck later. Remember when fans were arguing that “any night would be better than Monday”? That’s only true if you’re actually home to watch!

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7 comments

  1. The number of people who watch the show regardless of source must have diminished somewhat since the show can no longer be seen on Hulu or nbc.com.

  2. In Detroit, Chuck was bumped for local programming to a 1:30 am Saturday slot. You bet your heinie I took the DVR option!

  3. I believe that the lack of Chuck on Hulu/NBC is related to more license issues than lower viewership. My understanding is that they are working on this and we may yet see Chuck on Hulu/NBC

  4. I believe the decrease in live viewing is due to (1) Chuck fans no longer feeling we have to view the show live to demonstrate our loyalty because it is the show’s last season and good ratings won’t keep it around any longer; and (2) there are generally more entertainment choices on a Friday evening than a Monday evening, so why not go out and have fun if we can have Chuck and his team waiting and ready to go when we get home.

    I don’t think the Chucksters are any less loyal than before, we just understand we don’t have to continually demonstrate that loyalty to the doubters week after week as we felt we had to do during previous seasons when we were worried about losing Chuck. It’s actually a pretty good feeling, and a gift NBC gave us by allowing Chuck to go out own its own terms.

  5. Is there any way we can get a petition together for NBC to put the episodes back on the website? I know a TON of people who don’t have DVR and would watch the episodes if they were online

  6. This lift is only 39% if you carry the ratings to the next decimal (1.3 was actually 1.25).

    It is impressive only if you don’t compare it to Fringe and Grimm, which get much more of a lift–over 50%.

    Chuck hasn’t just lost live viewers, it’s lost time-shifters too.

    • We posted the numbers as reported, in relation to Chuck itself which has always followed its own unique ratings path. Therefore: impressive.