"Sleepy Hollow" was a hit in overnight ratings when it first aired but nowhere near the success it has become when other metrics are factored in. As Somers tells me, "the premiere drew a total audience of 12.7 million viewers, but 30 days later we saw that that total audience had grown to more than 26 million based on a consolidated metric encompassing linear TV, on-demand, and streaming." And the trend of massive growth when other platforms were included continued over the next few weeks for this incredibly bizarre but increasingly engaging show. For the third episode, airing 9/30/13, 10.4 million people watched "Sleepy Hollow" live, but another 5 million hit play on their DVR over the next seven days (a key figure for advertisers known as Live+7 in that commercials for time-sensitive subjects like film releases, for example, get less value after seven days.) Add in 2.6 million streaming views on VOD services like Hulu and Fox Now, and "Sleepy Hollow" is a smash hit. While live numbers have dropped over the last few weeks (7 million for the 11/11 episode), it's clear that those don't have the significance they once did. (Data source: TV by the Numbers.)

Time Shifting used to be a secondary concern for the networks. Get the live numbers to sell to advertisers and the rest is gravy. That's not the case anymore. Networks that are going to succeed in today's market have to embrace new viewership patterns, including the ones engendered by services like Netflix, which encourages watching multiple episodes in a row. "In fact," explains Somers, "we negotiated with our MVPD partners to ensure that all of our new series this season are "unlocked" on Fox Now and Hulu so that fans have multiple opportunities to catch up if they missed an episode and so that new viewers can check out the shows. Whether it's referred to as "binging" or "stacking," some viewers have adopted the practice of watching multiple episodes at a time, and it's good business sense to satisfy consumer expectations."

It makes the job of a network executive or TV showrunner much more difficult in that it may take time to determine the long-term viability of a program. And it's too soon to say how live ratings influence Time Shifting numbers and vice versa. It's not like no one is watching "Sleepy Hollow" live and it would be hard to believe that already-cancelled new programs like "We Are Men" or "Welcome to the Family" simply weren't given time over time shifting metrics. "Ultimately, viewing is going to accrue to the popular shows across the platforms on which they're available," Somers offers. "A clear hit will be a clear hit no matter what, and an outright rejection of a show is pretty obvious when it happens—it's the shows that fall in between that are trickier to evaluate in today's environment."