ABC Airs 3 of the Week’s Top 15 TV Shows in Adults 18-49, Including “Wipeout-TUES,” “Bachelor Pad” and “Shaq VS”.
ABC News Claims TV’s No. 1 Newsmagazine in Adults 18-49 For 3rd Week in a Row and for the 11th Time in 12 Weeks.
Consistently Beating Year-Ago Results, ABC’s Summer Surges by Double-Digit Percentages Year to Year, Generating its Most-Watched Summer Since 2005.
ABC is No. 1 on Monday Across All Key Women DemographicsFor the 15th Consecutive Week – Every Week of Summer 2010.
ABC’s “Bachelor Pad” Draws its Largest Audience Since its Debut, While Hitting Series Highs Among Women 18-34 and Women 25-54.
ABC is Up Year to Year on Tuesday for the 8th Consecutive Week And on 13 of the Last 14 Tuesdays with Viewers and Young Adults.
Building Over the Prior Week in Viewers and Young Adults, ABC’s Season Finale of “Shaq VS” Posts the Series’ 2nd-Highest-Ever Adult 18-49 Number.
“CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” Boosts ABC To Wednesday Summer Highs in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.
Despite Shifting to a New Night Against Stronge Competition, ABC’s “CMA Music Festival” Builds Year to Year in Women 18-34 and Posts its Best Number Since 2007.
Continuing to Beat NBC News’ Original “Dateline” on Friday at 9pm, ABC News’ Repeat “Primetime: What Would You Do?” Earns its Best Numbers Since July.
ABC Wins Saturday with the 5th-Season Opener of “Saturday Night Football”.
WEEK No. 50:
ABC outdelivered its rivals during the week of August, 30, 2010 in Adults 18-49 (1.4/5), finishing 8% ahead of CBS, NBC and Fox (1.3/4 in a 3-way tie). In addition, ABC was the only major net to grow its numbers week to week in Total Viewers (+9% – 4.7 million vs. 4.3 million) or Adults 18-49 (+8% – 1.4/5 vs. 1.3/4).
During the just-completed 2010 summer frame (Memorial Day-Labor Day), ABC’s primetime numbers jumped year to year by 21% in Total Viewers (5.7 million vs. 4.7 million) and by 20% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/6 vs. 1.5/6). Consistently outperforming its year-ago results, the Net was up over the same week last summer on 13 of 14 weeks in Adults 18-49. Overall, ABC marked its
most-watched summer in 5 years – since 2005. The Net was up by double-digit percentages this summer in Adults 18-49 on 5 of 7 nights during the week: +23% on Monday, +79% on Tuesday, +86% on Thursday, +33% on Friday and +13% on Sunday. In addition, the Net ranked No. 1 with young adults on Monday, Thursday and Sunday nights.
Rankings: ABC claimed 3 of the Top 15 TV shows during the week in Adults 18-49, placing 2 of the Top 10: “Wipeout-TUES” – No. 7, “Bachelor Pad” – No. 10 and “Shaq VS” – No. 14. With “Primetime: What Would You Do?,” ABC aired TV’s No. 1 newsmagazine for the 3rd week in a row among Adults 18-49 (tie). In fact among young adults, ABC News aired TV’s No. 1 newsmagazine for the 11th time in 12 weeks.
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 37% currently, from 32% 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.
Monday
With its lineup of “Bachelor Pad” and “Dating in the Dark,” ABC was No. 1 on Monday across all key Women demographics: Women18-34 (2.4/7), Women 18-49 (2.6/7) and Women 25-54 (3.0/8). In fact, ABC ranked No. 1 across each of the key Women demos for the 15th consecutive Monday, every week of the summer.
“Bachelor Pad” (8:00-10:01 p.m.)
Drawing its largest audience (6.2 million) since its series debut, ABC’s “Bachelor Pad” hit series highs among Women 18-34 and Women 25-54 (tie). The freshman unscripted series won its 2-hour time period across each of the key Women demos: W18-34 (2.8/8), W18-49 (3.0/8) and W25-54 (3.5/9), leading its time period for the 4th consecutive week among Women 18-49 and Women 25-54.
“Dating in the Dark” (10:01-11:00 p.m.)
ABC’s “Dating in the Dark” took second place to its CBS and NBC competition in the hour among Adults 18-49 (1.5/4), beating NBC’s “Dateline” by 15% (1.3/4). ABC ranked No. 1 in the hour among the broadcast networks in Women 18-49 (1.9/5).
ABC’s “Dating in the Dark” saw gains over the prior week of 3% in Total Viewers (3.8 million vs. 3.7 million) and 7% in Adults 18-49 (1.5/4 vs. 1.4/4).
Tuesday
ABC placed second among the broadcast networks on Tuesday in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5), topping Fox by 29% (1.4/4) and CBS by 50% (1.2/3).
Improving on the night for the 8th straight week, ABC grew solidly over the year-ago Tuesday (8/25/09) in Total Viewers (+56% – 5.0 million vs. 3.2 million) and Adults 18-49 (+64% – 1.8/5 vs. 1.1/3). The Net has been up year to year on Tuesday evening on 13 of 14 weeks this summer.
“Shaq VS” (9:21-10:21 p.m.)
The 2nd-season finale of ABC’s “Shaq VS” saw increases over the previous week of 13% in Total Viewers (4.3 million vs. 3.8 million) and 6% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5 vs. 1.7/5). In fact the season closer, in which Shaquille O’Neal took on both Pop/R&B multi-platinum singer Justin Beiber and ABC’s late night host Jimmy Kimmel, turned in the series’ second-best performance ever among Adults 18-49 (1.8/5-tie), Women 18-49 (1.8/5-tie) and Teens 12-17 (1.6/6). “Shaq VS” was up from its year-ago season finale by 6% in Adults 18-49 (1.7/5 on 9/15/09)
Wednesday
Boosted by “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock,” ABC hit Wednesday summer-highs in both Total Viewers (6.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.7/5).
Despite moving from Monday to Wednesday night this year opposite stiff unscripted competition on the other nets, including CBS’ “Big Brother,” NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and Fox’s “Master Chef,” ABC’s “CMA Music Festival” grew by 6% year to year with Women 18-34 (1.8/6 vs. 1.7/5), posting its strongest performance in 3 years – since 2007.
Friday
ABC ranked No. 1 among the major networks on Friday in Adults 18-49 (1.2/5), beating NBC by 20% (1.0/4), CBS by 50% (0.8/2) and Fox by 100% (0.6/2).
“Primetime: What Would You Do?” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
A repeat airing of ABC News’ “Primetime: What Would You Do?” beat the first hour of NBC’s original “Dateline” by double-digit percentages once again, leading the NBC newsmagazine by 30% in Adults 18-49 (1.3/5 vs. 1.0/4) and by 14% among Adults 25-54 (1.6/5 vs. 1.4/4).
ABC News’ “Primetime: What Would You Do?” drew is largest audience (4.4 million) on the night in 6 weeks and highest Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 ratings in 5 weeks – since 7/23/10 and 7/30/10, respectively.
Saturday
The fifth-season premiere of “Saturday Night Football,” featuring LSU at North Carolina, took ABC to a solid No. 1 on Saturday evening in Total Viewers (4.3 million) and across each of the key adult demographics: Adults 18-34 (1.5/7), Adults 18-49 (1.6/6) and Adults 25-54 (1.7/6).
WEEK NO. 50: ADULTS 18-49 TOTAL VIEWERS
No.1 ABC 1.4 No.1 CBS 5,710,000
No.2 CBS 1.3 No.2 NBC 5,180,000
No.2 NBC 1.3 No.3 ABC 4,650,000
No.2 FOX 1.3 No.4 FOX 3,620,000
No.5 CW 0.4 No.5 CW 980,000
Source: ABC – The Nielsen Company (National Live+Same Day Program Ratings), week of 8/30/10, unless stated otherwise. Summer = 5/31-9/5/10 vs. 5/25-9/6/09.
