We’re almost at the halfway point of the Fall TV season and a promising trend is emerging: with over 400 million views a month, not only has On Demand become an increasingly preferred way to watch shows, but its ease of use and convenience are helping to build new new audiences and lift ratings for networks. 

Just look at The Blacklist

During the first month of the season, live commercial ratings for the show were 16% higher among Comcast subscribers.  The same episodes saw a 98% increase among Comcast subs in time-shifted C3 ratings (which measures viewing done within three days of the live air date On Demand or via DVR).  

Why do shows like The Blacklist fare better in Comcast households?  

Because not only do we have one of the largest and highest-quality collections of current season TV content available for customers to catch-up on, but we’ve heavily invested in building and maintaining an On Demand platform our customers love and flock to.  70% of our subscribers use On Demand monthly. 

November 2013 was the most watched month ever for TV content on Xfinity On Demand, ranking #1 in hours watched and subscribers viewing. Hours watched were up 36 percent year-over-year.  

Some might question if all this On Demand viewing cannibalizes a show’s live ratings; that viewers will stockpile episodes On Demand to watch days or weeks later and driving down ratings. Interestingly, when you look at the data, the opposite is true.  

Live ratings actually increase.  

Consumers aren’t trying to stockpile or delay playback – they want to sample, catch-up and stay current with a series.  It allows new audience to join shows after the premiere and once they’re caught up, there is a pull to stay current and become part of the social dialogue.  

In the end, all the muscle we put behind both the platform and the shows on it equals success for the programmers and ultimately, more choices for our customers.