ABC’s ‘Dancing With the Stars’ most-watched in primetime, #1

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‘Dancing With the Stars’ had a massive 14.5 rating/22 share in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. and it never stopped building momentum in every half-hour. Castle, benefited out of Dancing With the Stars, won the 10 p.m. hour.


ABC is the Most-Watched Net on Monday for the 4th Straight Week and for the 3rd Time in 4 Weeks Among Adults 18-49.

ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” Leads its Time Period in Viewers and Young Adults for the 4th Week Running. 

“Castle” Stands as the No. 1 Series at 10pm in Viewers and Young Adults
for the 4th Week in a Row, Drawing its 2nd-Largest-Ever Audience.

 Monday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
Opposite all-original competition on the evening from CBS and Fox, ABC stood as Monday’s most-watched network for the 4th week in a row (17.9 million) and also won the night for the 3rd time in 4 weeks with Adults 18-49 (4.2/12), beating out its nearest competition by 7.5 million viewers and by 17% in young adults (CBS = 10.4 million and 3.6/10).  

ABC’s numbers surged over the year-ago Monday by 4.0 million viewers and by 24% in Adults 18-49 (13.9 million and 3.4/9 on 4/13/09).

“Dancing with the Stars” (8:00-10:00 p.m.)
Monday’s most-watched TV show overall, ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” won its time period for the 4th week running in both Total Viewers (20.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (4.8/13).  “DWTS” led its time period by wide margins, beating out second-place CBS with its original 2-hour comedy block by 10.1 million viewers and by 26% in Adults 18-49 (“How I Met Your Mother”/”Rules of Engagement”/”Two and a Half Men”/”The Big Bang Theory” = 10.2 million and 3.8/11).

“Castle” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
For the 4th week in a row, ABC’s “Castle” finished as the No. 1 series in Monday’s 10 o’clock hour among Total Viewers (13.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (3.2/9).  In fact ABC’s “Castle” drew a bigger audience than CBS’ “CSI: Miami” for their 2nd straight original match-up in the time period, and by an even wider margin.  Growing week to week, “Castle” drew its 2nd-largest-ever audience and posted the series’ 3rd-highest Adult 18-49 rating. 

The ABC sophomore drama was up sharply over its performance on the same night last year, jumping by 5.9 million viewers and 68% in Adults 18-49 year to year (7.3 million and 1.9/5 on 4/13/09). 

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 36% currently, from 30% at the same point in 2009. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.

(Source: ABC –  Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 4/12/10.)