SNL Palin skit turns viewership upside down

Sarah Palin's "Bridge To Nowhere" went somewhere, thanks to DVR and online viewing of the three "Saturday Night Live" sketches featuring Tina Fey as the second female vice-presidential candidate.

Among all the people who saw at least one of the three SNL sketches, 33% watched it on television during the original broadcast and a staggering 67% watched after the original broadcast either online or on a DVR, according to data released by Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI).

"We've been monitoring three screen viewing - TV, online and mobile - and this is the first time we've seen delayed viewing numbers this big," said Amanda Welsh, head of research for IMMI. "Usually it's the other way around, with the overwhelming majority of viewing occurring during the actual broadcast."

As an interesting side-note, SNL's version of the vice-presidential debate was as close as many viewers came to watching the real thing. Of the viewers who watched at least one of the SNL sketches, 56% never saw the actual vice-presidential debate.

The study was implemented through a research panel built by IMMI that mirrors U.S. Census results for fundamental demographics in key markets. IMMI provides thousands of panel members in key markets with a mobile phone, asking them to carry it with them wherever they go. The mobile phone is equipped with a technology that creates digital signatures of all the audio media (television, radio and movies) to which it has been exposed. IMMI can determine viewing audiences, as well as certain types of consumer behavior based on a timeline of when the media was viewed or heard.