Returning to originals for the first time in 3 weeks, ABC delivered a strong 2nd-place finish on Wednesday to an Idol-driven Fox in Adults 18-49, beating out third-place CBS by 29% and fourth-place NBC by 94%.
* ABC’s Modern Family stood as the clear #1 scripted program on Wednesday night with Adults 18-49. Additionally, the ABC comedy outdelivered American Idol to qualify as the night’s #1 TV show overall in Adults 18-34, key Men (M18-34/M18-49) and Women 18-34.
* In viewers and young adults, ABC marked its strongest Wednesday since the beginning of January – since 1/4/12.
At 8pm, ABC’s The Middle earned second to American Idol, more than doubling the audience of its NBC comedy competition (Whitney) and leading by 73% with Adults 18-49. It was the Middle’s biggest winning advantage yet over NBC’s Whitney.
* The Middle was up over its most-recent original in Total Viewers (+5%) and Adults 18-49 (+4%). In fact, the show equaled its best-ever performance against an installment of Idol in Adults 18-49.
Like its lead-in, ABC’s Suburgatory beat out its non-Idol competition at 8:30pm by wide margins and crushed its freshman comedy competition on NBC (Are You There, Chelsea?) with viewers (+97%) and young adults (+67%). In fact, Suburgatory posted its best-ever winning margins over NBC’s Are You There, Chelsea?
* Suburgatory lifted its time period for ABC over the year-ago Wednesday against Idol by 7% in Total Viewers and by 19% in Adults 18-49.
Wednesday’s #1 scripted TV program among Adults 18-49, ABC’s Modern Family more than doubled its lead-in at 9pm to dominate its slot by 72% over its closest competition (Criminal Minds and Mobbed tied).
* Up over its last original in viewers (+8%) and young adults (+8%), ABC’s Modern Family registered its top numbers since the beginning of the year – since 1/4/12. In addition, the ABC comedy scored its highest rating in nearly 3 months with Women 18-34 – 11/16/11.
During the 9:30pm half-hour, ABC’s Happy Endings ran a strong second in Adults 18-49, beating out Fox’s Idol-fueled Mobbed. In addition, Happy Endings won its time slot in Adults 18-34 and Women 18-34.
* ABC’s Happy Endings built on its last first-run telecast in viewers (+14%) and young adults (+3%), pulling its top numbers since the beginning of the year – since 1/4/12. In addition, the ABC sophomore comedy hit its best number since mid-November with Men 18-49 – since 11/16/11.
From 10-11pm, ABC freshman drama Revenge ran a strong second in its hour, beating NBC’s L&O: SVU by double digits in Total Viewers (+13%) and Adults 18-49 (+14%). In addition, the ABC drama ranked #1 in the hour with Adults 18-34 and across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).
* ABC’s Revenge matched a 12-week high in Adults 18-49 – since 11/16/11.
* Revenge produced substantial year-over-year improvement for ABC in Wednesday’s 10 o’clock hour, surging by 2.0 million viewers and by 32% in Adults 18-49 over first-run drama programming on the year-ago evening.
(Source: ABC)
