ABC dominated Wednesday with CMA Awards

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With “The 43rd Annual CMA Awards,” ABC Dominates Wednesday Evening, Beating Second-Place CBS by 5.5 Million Viewers and by 68% in Adults 18-49


ABC Sees Most-Watched Non-Sports Wednesday Since September 2004 And its Highest Adult 18-49 Number on the Night Since November 2007

Up Year to Year in Viewers and Young Adults, ABC’s “CMA Awards” is the Most Watched in 4 Years and Marks its Top-Rated Telecast in 6 Years in Women 18-34

ABC’s “CMA Awards” Overshadows CBS’ 2009 “ACM Awards” Telecast

“The 43rd Annual CMA Awards” (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
With the Network’s broadcast of “The 43rd Annual CMA Awards,” ABC overshadowed Wednesday’s prime, beating out second-place CBS on the evening by 5.5 million viewers (16.8 million vs. 11.3 million) and by 68% in Adults 18-49 (5.2/14 vs. 3.1/8).  ABC ranked No. 1 in all 6 half-hours of the night in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.  In fact it was a clean sweep on the night, as the Network also took top honors on the evening across all key Adults, Men and  Women demographics (18-34/18-49/25-54), as well as registering as the top-rated broadcaster with Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11. 

ABC attracted its biggest Wednesday audience with non-sports programming in well over 4 years and its highest Adult 18-49 number in 2 years – since 9/21/05 and 11/17/07, respectively. 

Year to year, the “CMA Awards” gained nearly 1 million viewers and grew 4% in Adults 18-49 (2008 = 15.9 million and 5.0/13 on 11/12/08).  It was the most-watched “CMA Awards” telecast in 4 years, while the annual awards show marked its highest Adult 18-34 number in 5 years (4.1/12-tie) and top Women 18-34 number in 6 years (5.7/15) – since 2005, 2004 and 2003, respectively.
 
ABC’s telecast of the “CMA Awards” outperformed CBS’ 2009 telecast of the “ACM Awards” in April by 2.0 million viewers and by 37% in Adults 18-49 (CBS’ “ACM Awards” on 4/5/09 = 14.8 million viewers and 3.8/10 in AD18-49).
 
An estimated 35.8 million viewers watched at least some portion of “The 43rd Annual CMA Awards” during its 3-hour telecast – unique Viewers 2+ that watched 6 minutes or more of the program.

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 33% currently, from 28% at the same point in 2008. 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: data and information provided by ABC – Nielsen Media Research (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 11/11/09)