‘Lost,’ ‘SNL’ Most Popular Streamed Entertainment TV Programs
A recent report released by the Nielsen Company shows that “Lost” on ABC.com lured the most unique viewers in December, making the show the top among all online broadcast television network entertainment programs streamed from tagged Web sites and embedded network video players.
- The report, the first of its kind released by Nielsen, shows that “Lost” attracted 1.4 million unique viewers to stream its program on ABC.com in December.
- “Saturday Night Live” was second, drawing 1.1 million viewers to NBC.com to stream its programming.
- “Grey’s Anatomy” was third with 879,000 unique viewers streaming its programming on ABC.com in December, followed by “Desperate Housewives,” which attracted 723,000 viewers to ABC.com.
- “Heroes” drew 685,000 to NBC.com in December, followed by “Ugly Betty,” which drew 631,000 viewers to ABC.com.
- “Samantha Who?” was seventh with 560,000 viewers heading to ABC.com to stream its content, followed by ABC.com’s “Scrubs,” which lured 519,000 unique viewers, CBS Televisioin’s “Survivor” with 496,000 viewers and ABC.com’s “True Beauty” with 462,000 viewers in December.
ABC.com, clearly, was the big winner in December, a testament to its efforts to establish its online offerings.
“While the online popularity of some shows, like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ suggests that some people are using the Internet to catch up on programs they usually watch on television, the online popularity of other programs like ‘Saturday Night Live,’ indicates that there is a Web audience that might otherwise not watch these programs at all,” said Jon Gibs, vice president of media analytics at Nielsen, in a press release.
“These viewers are driven by a morning-after water cooler effect.”
Gibs also commented on the somewhat curious popularity of “Lost” in December, weeks before the show’s fifth season premiered.
“We believe viewers were using the Internet to familiarize themselves with the plot in advance of the show returning in January,” he said.
In terms of time spent online watching streaming TV programs, CWTV.com’s “Privileged” topped the list with its viewers spending about 214.6 minutes watching the show online in December. It drew 29,000 viewers during the month.
“Chuck,” broadcast by NBC.com, was second with its 226,000 online viewers spending 162.5 minutes online with the show in December, followed by “Lipstick Jungle” on NBC.com with its users watching the show online for 153.2 minutes.
“Gossip Girl” (CWTV.com, 140.0 minutes) and “The Simpsons” (Fox Broadcasting, 138.8 minutes) rounded out the top five.
In the U.S., there were 124.6 million online video viewers in December, reflecting virtually no change from the 124.3 million viewers in November.
These viewers streamed 9.6 billion videos in December, a slight increase from the 9.5 billion videos streamed in November.
Viewers spent 170.7 minutes watching online videos in December, a 4 percent decline from 177.9 minutes in November.
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