ABC claims Friday ratings victory

0

With the season premieres of Shark Tank and Primetime: What Would You Do?, followed by 20/20, ABC ranked a definitive #1 on Friday in Adults 18-49, leading the night for the 2nd week in a row and achieving a season-high.  Holding double-digit advantages over its rivals, ABC beat out NBC on the evening by 21%, Fox by 32% and CBS by 55%.


* Building its numbers on the night for the 3rd straight week, the Net scored Friday season-highs with both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.

In the 8 o’clock hour, the season opener of ABC’s Shark Tank won its time period in Adults 18-49, topping runner-up Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares by 13%.

* Building sharply on its season premiere in the hour last year with viewers (+35%) and young adults (+42%) to deliver the series’ most-watched telecast ever, Shark Tank drew ABC’s biggest audience in the time period with non-sports programming in nearly 3-1/2 years and its highest Adult 18-49 number since October 2010 – since 9/26/08 and 10/29/10, respectively.

During the 9pm hour, the season premiere of Primetime: What Would You Do? ran a close second in its slot with Adults 18-49, nearly tying NBC’s Grimm (tied in audience share) and dominating Fox’s Fringe (+45%). The ABC newsmagazine delivered the #1 position in the hour with Women 18-49.

* Primetime: What Would You Do? drew the series’ biggest audience since November 2010 and its highest Adult 18-49 number since February 2011 – since 11/12/10 and 2/18/11, respectively.

During the 10pm hour, ABC’s 20/20 dominated its time period to stand as the Friday’s #1 TV show with Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54.   In addition, 20/20 once again registered as the night’s #1 newsmagazine, beating out NBC’s Dateline by considerable margins in head-to-head competition among Total Viewers (+31%), Adults 25-54 (+47%) and Adults 18-49 (+29%).  ABC’s 20/20 featured reporting by Chris Cuomo, Elizabeth Vargas and Deborah Roberts on the Costa Concordia cruise ship tragedy off the coast of Tuscany, Italy.

* Marking its 2nd strongest performance this season, 20/20 turned in its biggest numbers in 13 weeks with Total Viewers and key Adults (AD18-49/AD25-54) – since 10/21/11.

(Source: ABC)