In the heyday of DVRs — way back in the olden times, the early and mid-2010s — it was common for some shows at the top of the charts to add 5 million viewers or more to their initial totals over the course of a week via people’s TiVos or cable-box DVRs.

That … is no longer the case. TiVo stopped selling set-top boxes in October, and in the 2024-25 season, only a handful of network series added as many as 2 million viewers via DVR playback in seven days. Cable and satellite systems and other multi-channel providers like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV still let users record and shows to watch later, but as with most things related to linear TV, it’s a declining part of the ecosystem.

In the heyday of DVRs — way back in the olden times, the early and mid-2010s — it was common for some shows

See Full Page