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Screen Time
Katherine Nichols
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Moving 'Lost' away from 'Idol' helped
"Lost" has made a lot of changes in its nearly three seasons on the air, including two time-slot shifts and adding a midseason break. These alterations have affected the ratings, as anyone who reads a newspaper or Web site already knows. But more analysis reveals that the ratings phenomenon is a lot more complicated than it appears.
First, the 10 p.m. Eastern time period dictates a viewership decline of 12 percent, according to a ratings spokesperson, because people have begun to "wrap up their day" by then. So why did ABC executives decide to air the show later when it returned from hiatus?
"Moving 'Lost' to 10 p.m. this spring allowed us to get out of the path of Fox's 'American Idol' and at the same time substantially improve the numbers on Wednesday at 10 p.m. for ABC, as a lead-in to affiliates' late-local news telecasts," Jeff Bader, executive vice president of ABC Entertainment in Los Angeles, wrote in an e-mail message. "'Lost' is very successful in its new time period, leading the hour by a wide margin in the key adult 18-to-49 sales demographic. It is ABC's top-rated program in that time period in a decade, and since its move into the hour, ranks as the No. 1 10 p.m. series on any network."
"Lost" -- which airs at 9 p.m. in Hawaii -- also regularly delivers an upscale audience, according to the detailed statistics provided by Nielsen Media Research. In that coveted big-spending 18-to-49 demographic, the median household annual income is tied at No. 2 with "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives" at $65,000. "Brothers and Sisters" (with Sally Field and Calista Flockhart) delivers the highest annual median income at $66,000.
Tivo and other DVR watchers are included in the Nielsen sample as time-shifted viewing, but only if they view the show before 2 a.m. In other words, on March 7, 12.5 million viewers watched "Lost" live or saw a playback before 2 a.m. The next block of data is called "live plus 7," which includes viewers who watch the playback within seven days (if you watch on the eighth day, you don't count!). In that statistic, "Lost" gains another million viewers, though these numbers are typically ignored by the media. And there's more: Nielsen ratings never include shows viewed on DVD or iPod downloads.
Based on 10,000 "people meters" throughout the United States, Nielsen extrapolates information based on the U.S. census. Overall, "Lost" ranks in the Top 10 TV series this season -- at No. 7 in the 18-to-49 age group.
When asked about the fate of "Lost," ABC's Bader responded that the show "will be back next season." Other details remain to be seen.
Bader also explained that national advertisers do not buy time on shows based on the average household or viewer ratings we read about in newspapers. "Nielsen provides very specific ratings for all age breaks and viewing based on categories such as income, education, family size and so on," Bader wrote. "Nielsen ratings are just a part of the bigger picture in determining a show's overall popularity."
