do TV show sales on iTunes result in greater viewership?

TVWeek has an interesting article this week: NBC: iPod Boosts Prime Time. They're claiming that, after releasing The Office onto the iTunes Music Store (which is increasingly becoming a misnomer), they've seen an audience increase of 30% in the 18 to 49 age bracket. NBC is placing the credit for this squarely on the shoulders of the iPod and the iTunes Music Store.

It's interesting to note that NBC also changed the time slot of that show. But, at least in this article, NBC isn't saying that the time slot change resulted in anything. They're giving all of the credit to Apple products. Is it all due to the iPod? A good question. I'm sure that a fair number of people with spiffy new iPods decided to pony up a couple of bucks to try out some of the video content, and maybe there was enough buzz about The Office that it was the one that got the lion's share of the goodies. I do think that the initial offerings were somewhat paltry, so The Office didn't really have that much competition for people who wanted to try out videos on their new iPod. If I download a new-to-me show and decide I like it, am I more likely to continue paying my two bucks per episode, or am I going to just watch it on my free-to-air NBC?

I have to admit that the video content is making me rethink my previous statement that the video iPod doesn't do anything for me. I've quite a lot of travel planned for the next couple of months, which makes having an ultra-portable video unit more attractive. The latest addition of classic Saturday Night Live skits might be enough to push me over the edge and (finally) upgrade my old 2G iPod.