Opposite Fox’s 2-hour American Idol season closer on the final evening of the season, ABC’s Wednesday night of finales earned a strong second place among Adults 18-49, beating CBS by 73% and NBC by 86%.
· Building week to week against the Idol finale in viewers (+9%) and young adults (+13%), ABC hit 3-month highs on Wednesday night on both counts – since 2/29/12.
· Jumping over the year-ago night in viewers (+16%) and young adults (+13%), ABC marked its strongest season-ending Wednesday since 2007. And on average for the 2011-12 season, ABC’s Wednesday delivery grew by 15% in viewers and by 23% in young adults over last season, scoring its best results on the evening in 5 years – since the 2006-07 television season.
At 8pm, ABC’s season finale of The Middle finished a solid #2 to Idol in viewers and young adults, beating the season finale of Off their Rockers by 18% and 33%, respectively.
· Gaining over the prior week in Adults 18-49 (+5%), The Middle equaled a 6-week high – since 4/11/12. In addition, the ABC comedy matched a 12-week high with Adults 18-34 – since 2/29/12.
· Improving for its second straight year (+4%), ABC’s The Middle marked its top-rated season yet in Adults 18-49.
At 8:30pm among Adults 18-49, a repeat Modern Family beat out CBS’ encore Two and a Half Men by 66% and NBC’s encore Off their Rockers by 33%.
TV’s #1 scripted series for the 2nd straight season in Adults 18-49, ABC’s season closer of Modern Family vaulted over its lead-in to stand as Wednesday’s #1 scripted program in both viewers and young adults. The ABC comedy qualified as Wednesday’s #1 scripted show on each original telecast this season with young adults.
· Modern Family was up week to week in both viewers (+6%) and young adults (+3%). Posting its best-ever season, on average ABC’s Modern Family surged over last season by double digits in Total Viewers (+10%) and Adults 18-49 (+17%).
In the 9:30pm half-hour against the final segment of Idol, the freshman season finale of ABC’s Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23 ran as the #1 scripted show in its half-hour among Adults 18-49.
· Shooting up over the prior week with viewers (+21%) and young adults (32%), Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23 hit its highest numbers in 5 weeks – since 4/18/12. The show also marked best-since premiere numbers with key Men (M18-34/M18-49), despite facing NBA Playoff coverage on ESPN.
· The new ABC comedy improved its slot year to year in Total Viewers (+10%) and Adults 18-49 (+25%), pacing ahead of the year-ago season finale for Cougar Town.
ABC’s freshman season finale of Revenge won the 10 o’clock hour, beating out the season ender of NBC’s veteran Law & Order: SVU in the hour by wide margins with Total Viewers (+11%), Adults 18-49 (+26%) and Adults 25-54 (+25%).
· Jumping by double digits week to week, Revenge drew its biggest audience in 20 weeks and equaled 15-week highs with Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 –since 1/4/12 and 2/8/12, respectively.
· The Disney-owned drama produced substantial year-to-year gains in the hour, outdelivering season-finale programming on the same night last year in Viewers (+77%), Adults 25-54 (+43%) and Adults 18-49 (+33%). On average, Revenge capped out its first season as ABC’s most-watched series in the hour in 5 years – since Lost during the 2006-07 season.
(source: ABC)
