Overall: During the week of 3/5/12, ABC aired 5 of the Top 20 broadcast shows in Adults 18-49: Once Upon a Time – #9, Desperate Housewives – #14, The Bachelor – #16, Modern Family-R – #17 and GCB – #19. The Net was up over the year-ago week in both Total Viewers (+2%) and Adults 18-49 (+7%). In fact season to date, ABC’s Adult 18-49 number is up 4% over the same point last season.
Monday: With The Bachelor: The Women Tell All and a repeat Castle, ABC ranked a solid #2 on Monday night in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. ABC beat out Fox with its all-original programming (2-hour Alcatraz) by 2.0 million viewers and by 17% in Adults 18-49. Building in viewers (+8%) and young adults (+17%) from its first hour to its second hour against NBC’s The Voice from 8-10 pm, ABC’s The Bachelor: The Women Tell All took second place in its slot, outperforming Fox’s 2-hour Alcatraz in head-to-head competition by 44% in Total Viewers and by 39% in Adults 18-49. During the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s repeat Castle beat out CBS’ repeat Hawaii Five-0 in Adults 18-34 and across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). The ABC drama matched its strongest repeat performance this season among young adults. ABC’s Castle was up over its repeat airing on the same night last year by 1.0 million viewers.
Tuesday: At 8pm, ABC’s repeat Last Man Standing dominated Fox’s time-period premiere of Raising Hope by 17%The encore Last Man Standing produced sharp year-to-year gains for ABC in the half-hour in viewers (+31%) and young adults (+30%) over repeat programming on the year-ago night. Building on its Adult 18-49 lead-in (+15%) at 8:30pm, ABC’s Cougar Town attracted 16% more Total Viewers than Fox’s time-slot premiere of I Hate My Teenage Daughter. Despite airing out of a repeat Last Man Standing this week, ABC’s Cougar Town saw its Viewer count grow week to week and equaled a season high with Women 18-34. During the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s The River grew its overall audience week to week (+4%) and surged 27% to achieve a best-since-premiere number with Women 18-34. Increasing from its lead-in by 12% at 10pm, ABC’s replay Body of Proof ranked #2 in the hour, topping NBC’s Decision 2012 by 2.1 million viewers. In addition, the ABC repeat drama topped the NBC News program by 13% among Adults 18-49 and by 30% among Adults 25-54.
Wednesday: Up against Fox’s 2-hour American Idol, ABC’s mix of original and repeat programming was up over the year-ago Wednesday in Total Viewers (+2%) and Adults 18-49 (+6%), improving year to year for the 5th straight week on the evening. In fact, the Net was once again the only broadcaster to increase its overall Wednesday audience year over year. ABC outdelivered NBC’s mostly original lineup on the night by wide margins in viewers (+42%) and young adults (+42%). At 8pm, ABC’s repeat The Middle outdrew NBC’s original Whitney by 1.0 million viewers and nearly tied among Adults 18-49 (pacing within 1-tenth of a rating point and tied in audience share). The Middle was up over its year-ago repeat telecast in the half-hour by 7% in Adults 18-49. At 8:30pm, like its lead-in, ABC’s repeat Suburgatory drew a larger audience than its original NBC comedy competition, topping Are You There, Chelsea? by 27% in viewers and tying the first-run NBC comedy in Adults 18-49. Suburgatory boosted its half-hour year over year for ABC, up by 7% in Adults 18-49 over the year-ago Wednesday with a special repeat The Middle. ABC’s repeat Modern Family at 9pm finished as Wednesday’s #1 scripted TV show in Adults 18-49, beating out runner-up CBS’ Criminal Minds encore by 60% in the half-hour. ABC’s Modern Family replay was up year to year among Adults 18-49 (+4%). During the 9:30pm half-hour, ABC’s Happy Endings earned second place to the conclusion of Fox’s Idol in Adults 18-49. In addition, the ABC sophomore comedy qualified as the #1 scripted show in its slot for its 17th consecutive first-run airing in Adults 18-34 and Women 18-34. Continuing to improve its slot year to year, ABC’s Happy Endings spiked by 11% in Adults 18-49 over Mr. Sunshine (also an original) in the half-hour on the year-ago night. During the 10 o’clock hour, the debut of ABC’s Revenge for Real: Murder in the Hamptons earned second place versus its CBS and NBC competition in Total Viewers and key Adults (AD18-49/AD25-54). In fact, the limited series from ABC News crushed NBC News’ time-period premiere of Rock Center with Brian Williams, leading by 43% in Total Viewers, by 46% in Adults 25-54 and by 40% in Adults 18-49. ABC’s Revenge for Real improved Wednesday’s 10 o’clock hour year to year by double digits in Total Viewers (+16%) and Adults 25-54 (+12%), outdelivering first-run programming on the same night last year.
Thursday: With its repeat line-up of Winter Wipeout, Grey’s Anatomy and GCB, ABC surged over the prior week’s repeat programming by double-digit percentages in both Total Viewers (+14%) and Adults 18-49 (+18%). At 9 o’clock, ABC’s encore Grey’s Anatomy spiked week-to-week by 21% in Total Viewers and by 27% in Adults 18-49 to achieve its best repeat numbers of the season. Gaining additional exposure 4 nights after its series debut on Sunday at 10pm, a special rebroadcast of the GCB pilot scored ABC’s best numbers with repeat programming in the hour in 1 year with Total Viewers and in well over 1 year with Adults 18-49 – since 3/17/11 and 1/13/11, respectively.
Saturday: Boosted by My Extreme Affliction: A Special Edition of 20/20 opposite first-run programming on each of the other nets, ABC ranked as the #1 broadcast network on Saturday in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd week in a row, outpacing CBS by 13% (with College Basketball overrun and 48 Hours Mystery), Fox by 50% (with a 2-hour Q’ Viva!) and NBC by 50% (with The Firm). Surging over its lead-in at 9pm and building its overall audience from its first hour to its second hour (+5%), ABC’s My Extreme Affliction: A Special Edition of 20/20 finished #1 for its 2nd straight telecast in its 2-hour time period with Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54. With reports by Barbara Walters and Elizabeth Vargas, ABC’s My Extreme Affliction took viewers into the lives of people with some of medicine’s most extreme conditions or who have unbelievable abilities.
Sunday: As GCB grew from its debut telecast, ABC won Sunday in Adults 18-49 over all-original competition on the other nets, beating CBS by 10%, Fox by 15% and NBC by 53%. In fact, ABC has been #1 on Sunday for 3 weeks straight to post its longest winning streak on the evening since May 2010. Please Note: With the change to Daylight Savings time, overall Adult 18-49 TV usage declined on Sunday night by -4% from the prior week (36.7 vs. 38.4). Shooting up to more than double its lead-in 8pm (+107%), ABC’s Once Upon a Time tied for #1 in its hour and as Sunday’s top broadcast show among Adults 18-49. The Disney-owned drama also won its hour across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54) and made ABC the #1 broadcaster with Teens 12-17. ABC’s Desperate Housewives led the pack in the 9 o’clock hour with young adults, dominating the first hour of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice by 37% and CBS’ The Good Wife by 53%. Building its overall audience for its 3rd straight broadcast, ABC’s Housewives generated its most-watched telecast in 9 weeks and matched an 8-week high with young adults – since 1/8/12 and 1/15/12, respectively. Continuing to show impressive retention of its Housewives lead-in (88%), ABC’s GCB grew over its week-ago debut and moved up into the #1 position during the 10pm hour in Adults 18-49, beating out the second hour of NBC’s 2-hour Celebrity Apprentice by 5% and CBS’ CSI: Miami by 10%. In addition for the 2nd week in a row, the new ABC drama ranked #1 in its time period with Adults 18-34, and across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). ABC’s GCB was up over its week-earlier series debut across all key Adult demos: AD18-34 +7%, AD18-49 +5% and AD25-54 +4%. In fact GCB stands as the season’s only non-Idol led series to build on its debut telecast in Adults 18-49. The freshman drama once again produced the Net’s best series performance in the hour since early-October with Adults 18-49 – since 10/2/11.
(Source: ABC)
