TV 101: They’re Not TV Numbers. They’re HBO Numbers.

10 Oct 2007, by James Poniewozik, Time.com

” …I’m always skeptical when networks–HBO, Showtime, CNN, whoever–volunteer “cumulative” ratings (if I hold my arms up, I am cumulatively over 6 feet tall). But I asked HBO to offer the same stats for some other current HBO shows, for an apples-to-apples comparison. Here are the numbers (pardon my formatting ineptitude), and if nothing else, it’s an interesting TV 101 insight into what HBO chooses to carry and why:

Big Love: 5.8 million (40% Sunday premiere / 60% other plays)

Entourage: 5.6 million (55/45)

The Wire: 4.4 million (40/60)

John from Cincinnati: 3.8 million (40/60)

TMYLM: 3.2 million (30/70)

Curb Your Enthusiam: 3.0 million (35/65)

Flight of the Conchords: 2.7 million (40/60)

Only 30% of TMYLM’s viewers, according to HBO, watch the “live” debut. (“It’s a show people want to watch privately, I imagine,” the publicist theorized dryly. I also wonder if the fact that episodes air a week early On Demand encourages that format.)… ” [more]