Nielsen Shows Audience Growth Well After 7 Days

In another indication of changing viewing habits, shows are capturing viewers up to five weeks after they air, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Most of a given show's audience comes in the first three days after it airs. Even in a world of 500 scripted shows, most viewers get to a show within 72 hours.

Numbers back that up: In 2018-19, broadcast series collected more than 90 percent of their seven-day viewer totals within the first three days. After that, the audience tails off — but, data from Nielsen shows, it doesn't stop. The Peak TV era has shown that series can leave a ratings footprint more than a month after it airs.

Nielsen measures viewing out to 35 days — five weeks — after a show's initial airdate. Those additional four weeks don't bring huge ratings bumps the way three- and seven-day figures can; they do, in fact, continue to move the needle.

The effect is more pronounced among adults 18-49, the demographic group advertisers pay a premium to reach, than it is among viewers as a whole. Per Nielsen, primetime dramas in the fourth quarter of 2018 rose 60 percent among adults 18-49 after 35 days, and comedies grew by 36 percent. In both cases, those gains outpaced the total-viewer lifts, which were 45 percent for dramas and 23 percent for comedies.

THR also compared seven-day and 35-day viewer averages for 20 high-performing shows from January to August 2019. On average, those shows brought in almost 1 million more viewers in days 8-35, a gain of just over 9 percent from where they stood after a week.