Fox tweaks ratings report to reflect changing viewing habits

Every day, television networks send out detailed information to the media about how their shows did the previous night in the Nielsen ratings.

But this season, Fox is not only telling us what just happened, it is predicting what’s going to happen in the future as well.

In the early morning report on the performance of its new drama “Sleepy Hollow,” Fox made projections on the show’s ratings after three days and seven days of recorded watching are factored in, and also after one month.

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The move, which so far is not being followed by other networks, is aimed in part at trying to discourage media outlets from making judgments on how a show performed based off of just initial ratings. With more viewers recording shows to view later or watching them on digital platforms or via video-on-demand, the day-after numbers are expected to continue to decline for many shows during the upcoming TV season.

In its debut, “Sleepy Hollow” actually had strong numbers for Fox, averaging more than 10 million viewers and a 3.4 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic.

Fox said it expects the viewership number for “Sleepy Hollow” to grow to 15 to 16 million after 30 days.

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Follow Joe Flint on Twitter @JBFlint.

For the record: A previous version of this post incorrectly said Fox expected Sleepy Hollow’s audience to grow to 11. 3 million.