TV network viewings dip post-iTunes 6

It appears that Lost is the top television download in the iTunes Music Store. Not surprising, I guess, but here's what I find interesting. The number of Nielsen-monitored network viewers of both Lost and Desperate Housewives has dipped since the announcement of iTunes 6 on October 12th. According to CNN, "Three Desperate Housewives episodes averaged 27.2 million viewers before the iPod announcement, while four episodes since then have pulled in 25.2 million viewers." According to Nielsen, the network numbers for Lost were 22.7 million pre-iTunes 6, and 20.7 million after.

Now, we certainly can't determine causality from the information provided here, but it would seem to suggest that some viewers have swapped one distribution method for another. Expect advertisers to notice this trend soon.

At the very least, it seems that people want portable, on demand television. Including me.

[Via Macsimum]