ABC is Up on Tuesday Year to Year by 3 Million Viewers and by 71% in Adults 18-49
Shooting Up From its Lead-in and Building Throughout its Telecast, “Lost” Wins at 9pm and is Tuesday’s No. 1 Scripted Show in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd Straight Week
“Lost” is Up Substantially Over its Performance on the Same Week Last Year And Delivers Dramatic Year-to-Year Improvement for ABC in the Time Slot
Generating its Strongest Numbers Since Fall ’09, “the forgotten” Defeats NBC’s “Jay Leno” Finale at 10pm and Improves its Hour for ABC Year to Year
Tuesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
On Tuesday with a “Lost” replay, “Lost” and “the forgotten,” ABC was up over the same night last year (2/10/09) by 3.0 million viewers (7.3 vs. 4.3 million) and by 71% in Adults 18-49 (2.9/7 vs. 1.7/4).
“Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Despite facing stiff, established time-period competition on CBS (“NCIS: LA”) and NBC (“Biggest Loser”), as well as Fox’s “American Idol”-inflated series debut of “Past Life,” ABC self-starter “Lost” shot up from its lead-in by 6.1 million viewers (11.0 vs. 4.9 million) and by 188% in young adults (4.9/12 vs. 1.7/4) and built its audience from start to finish (+4% in viewers/+6% in young adults). “Lost” dominated the 9 o’clock hour for its 2nd straight telecast in the key young Adult sales demo, defeating its nearest competitors by 23% (CBS and NBC tied at 4.0/10) and fourth-place Fox by 58% (3.1/8).
On its new night, “Lost” qualified as Tuesday’s No. 1 scripted TV show for the 2nd week in a row in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and across key Men (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54).
“Lost” was up from its performance on the same week last year by 1.2 million viewers and by 11% in Adults 18-49 (9.8 million and 4.4/10, Wednesday 9:00 p.m. on 2/11/09).
“Lost” delivered enormous year-to-year time period improvement for ABC, boosting the hour by 6.6 million viewers and by 125% in Adults 18-49 over the year-ago night with original programming (4.4 million and 2.0/5 – originals of “Scrubs”).
Excluding only last week’s sixth-season premiere, “Lost” posted its highest-rated telecast in nearly 2 years among Adults 18-34 (5.0/14) – since 2/21/08.
“the forgotten” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC’s “the forgotten” took second in its slot to CBS’ “Good Wife,” beating the series finale of NBC’s “Jay Leno” among Adults 18-49 (+11% – 2.0/6 vs. 1.8/5).
“the forgotten” jumped from its most recent original telecast (on 1/12/10) by 1.6 million viewers (5.9 vs. 4.3 million) and by 67% in Adults 18-49 (2.0/6 vs. 1.2/3). In fact the show drew its biggest audience since mid-November and its highest Adult 18-49 number since mid-October – since 11/17/09 and 10/13/09, respectively.
“the forgotten” generated strong year-to-year time period improvement for ABC, growing the 10 o’clock the hour by 2.2 million viewers and by 25% in Adults 18-49 over the year-ago night with original programming (3.7 million and 1.6/4 – original “True Beauty”).
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 35% currently, from 29% 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: information from ABC. – Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 2/9/10.)
