One day after CBS announced its audience jumped 54% in total viewers this TV season going from Live + Same Day ratings to Nielsen’s new TCR Live + 35 Day ratings, NBC sent out its own, announcement boasting This Is Us heads a list of 12 NBC series more than doubling their demo rating in L+35 ratings, combining linear and non-linear sources.
On average, This Is Us originals this season are growing by 180% going from L+SD to L+35.
NBC has been among the most vocal skeptics of Nielsen’s TCR methodology. In December, NBCUniversal sent a letter to Nielsen warning it had “deep concerns” that Total Content Ratings (TCR), which also would add ratings for digital viewing of TV shows to the current numbers, were “not ready for release.” the Comcast-owned company told Nielsen in a letter. The complaint from the Comcast-owned company was considered significant, given that networks have wanted the change as they try to persuade advertisers that they’re still a good buy at a time when traditional ratings are declining.
NBCU’s letter, from Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships Chairman Linda Yaccarino, said TCR is “far from meeting” requirements that it offer “a reasonable degree of accuracy and transparency” — making its release “premature” and “irresponsible.”
“Some say, ‘something is better than nothing’,” Yaccarino writes. “We disagree. Bad, inaccurate and misleading data is far worse than no data at all.”
Here are NBC series that are more than doubling their 18-49 averages this season when going from L+SD ratings to L+35 figures that combine linear results with estimated non-linear ratings for the period Sept. 19, 2016 through Jan. 15, 2017, as tabulated by NBC:
· This Is Us, +180% (2.65 to 7.41).
· The Blacklist, +166% (1.12 to 2.97).
· The Good Place, +164% (1.19 to 3.15).
· Law & Order: SVU, +161% (1.48 to 3.87).
· Timeless, +156% (1.28 to 3.27).
· Superstore, +154% (1.23 to 3.12).
· Blindspot, +152% (1.15 to 2.90).
· Emerald City, +149% (0.93 to 2.32).
· Grimm, +138% (0.86 to 2.05).
· Chicago P.D., +126% (1.39 to 3.14).
· Chicago Med, +121% (1.31 to 2.90).
· Chicago Fire, +106% (1.62 to 3.33).