ABC ranked #1 for the 4th consecutive Sunday in Adults 18-49, dominating CBS (with the 3-hours of Survivor: One World finale coverage) by 22%, Fox by 65% and NBC by 115%. In fact, the Net led all 8 half-hours of the evening in the key young adult sales demo. ABC was also Sunday’s most-watched network overall and continued to rank #1 on the evening with Adults 25-54 and across all key Women demos.
ABC’s finales of Once Upon a Time and Desperate Housewives tied as the night’s #1 TV show in Adults 18-49, while the series ender of Desperate Housewives was also Sunday’s most-watched TV show.
Building for the 2nd week in a row with viewers (+25%) and up for the 4th straight Sunday in young adults (+17%), ABC turned in its top-rated Sunday with regular programming in more than 1-1/2 years in Adults 18-49 – since 10/3/10. Additionally, the Net was up over the same Sunday last year for the 2nd consecutive week in Adults 18-49 (+12%).
Airing Part 1 of its two-part season finale, ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos won the 7 o’clock hour for the 3rd week in a row in Adults 18-49, outdelivering CBS’ 60 Minutes by 33%, Fox’s animated comedies by 45% and NBC’s Dateline by 100%.
TV’s #1 new drama for the 2011-12 season, ABC’s season finale of Once Upon a Time dominated the 8 o’clock hour in Adults 18-49, finishing #1 in its slot for its 10th straight first-run telecast. From 8-9pm, Once Upon a Time defeated the opening hour of CBS’ Survivor finale by a strong 19%, Fox’s animated comedies (The Simpsons/Bob’s Burgers) by 78% and more than tripled the delivery of NBC’s Harry’s Law (+220%). The Disney-owned drama capped out its initial season as Sunday’s #1 TV show for the 4th week running in Adults 18-49 (tied w/Desperate Housewives finale).
During its freshman season run, Once Upon a Time generated impressive time-slot gains for ABC year to year, up by 27% in Total Viewers and by 67% in Adults 18-49, to register as the Net’s most-watched series in the hour in 4 years – since 2007-08.
Up week to week in Total Viewers (+6%) and Adults 18-49 (+7%), Once Upon a Time marked a 10-week high on both measures – since 3/4/12. In addition, the show grew to its highest Teen 12-17 number since January – since 1/29/12.
Finishing out the night from 9-11pm, the series finale of ABC’s Desperate Housewives posted a definitive victory in its 2-hour time period among Adults 18-49, beating out the conclusion of Survivor and the Reunion show by 19% and NBC’s 2-hour Celebrity Apprentice by 78%. Building in each half-hour of its finale, Housewives stood as Sunday’s most-watched TV show overall, easily topping CBS’ Survivor finale.
Spiking week to week in viewers (+21%) and young adults (+19%), Desperate Housewives hit season highs to mark its best performance in well over 1 year – since 3/6/11.
In viewers and young adults, Housewives turned in ABC’s best performance in the time period since Fall 2010 with regular programming – since 10/3/10 and 11/7/10, respectively.
(source: ABC)
