ABC earns #2 position among Adults 18-49, finished #1 w/ Adults 25-54

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Overall:  During the week of 6/21/10, ABC earned the #2 network position among Adults 18-49 and finished #1 with Adults 25-54 and Women 18-49.  In fact among Women 18-49, ABC is delivering its longest summer winning streak in 5 years – since June-July 2005.  ABC aired 6 of the week’s Top 20 primetime TV shows in Adults 18-49, placing 3 of the Top 8:  Wipeout-TUES – #3, The Bachelorette – #7, Wipeout-THURS – #8, while Rookie Blue, Downfall and True Beauty tied at #19.  The Net also claimed 4 of the Top 15 most-watched primetime programs overall:  Wipeout-TUES – #4, The Bachelorette – #8, Wipeout-THURS – #10 and Rookie Blue – #15.  ABC’s The Bachelorette registered as the week’s #1 TV program with Women 18-49, while Wipeout-TUES was the #1 primetime show with Men 18-49.    ABC News’ 20/20 qualified as the TV’s #1 newsmagazine in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54, rising to the top for the 3rd time in 4 weeks in Adults 18-49.  For the 6th week in a row, ABC grew its numbers from the same week last year (w/o 6/22/09), building by 13% in Total Viewers and by 15% in Adults 18-49.  In viewers and young adults, ABC marked its strongest non-NBA summer week in nearly 2 years – since w/o 7/7/08.


Monday: Featuring The Bachelorette and True Beauty, ABC took first place on Monday night in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.   In fact the Net ranked #1 in Adults 18-49 for the 3rd consecutive Monday, beating second-place CBS by 32%, third-place Fox by 67% and fourth-place NBC by 92% – #1 in all 3 hours of the evening.  Building its overall Monday audience year to year for the 4th straight week, ABC was up over the year-ago Monday (6/22/09) by 1.5 million viewers and 25% in Adults 18-49.  Once again winning its 2-hour time period, ABC’s The Bachelorette finished #1 for the 4th week in a row, topping its nearest time-slot competition (CBS) by 1.4 million viewers and by 35% in Adults 18-49.  The veteran ABC unscripted series gained viewers and young adults during each half-hour of its 2-hour broadcast.  The Bachelorette stood as Monday’s #1 program in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd week in a row and registered as the night’s dominant #1 television show for the 4th week running across all key Women demographics (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54). In fact The Bachelorette overshadowed the #2 TV show of the night by 46% in Women 18-49.  The Bachelorette built its overall audience from the year-ago night for the 3rd week in a row, surging by double-digit percentages in Viewers (+22%) and Adults 18-49 (+17%). Hitting a summer-high in Adults 18-49, the show posted its top rating since its season opener coming out of the DWTS finale, on the concluding Monday of the TV Season (5/24/10).  During the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s True Beauty ran #1 against its network competition for the 3rd consecutive week in Adults 18-49.  The ABC unscripted series beat out NBC’s original scripted series, Persons Unknown, by best-yet margins in both Total Viewers (+2.3 million) and Adults 18-49 (+90%).  True Beauty achieved season-highs with Adults 18-34 and among key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49).  True Beauty once again substantially improved its time period for ABC, over the year-ago night with original programming, boosting the hour by 1.3 million viewers and by 36% in Adults 18-49.

Tuesday: ABC generated strong year-to-year improvement with its new Tuesday summer lineup in Total Viewers (+2.9 million viewers) and Adults 18-49 (+62%), over the year-ago night (6/23/09).  In fact, ABC was up in each hour of the evening. ABC’s season premiere of Wipeout ranked #1 in its time period among Adults 18-49, beating the opening hour or Fox’s 2-hour Hell’s Kitchen by 11%.  The ABC unscripted series also won its hour and finished as the #1 TV show of the night with Adults 18-34 and Men 18-49.  Wipeout was the #2 TV show of the evening in Adults 18-49, behind only NBC’s Tuesday veteran, America’s Got Talent.  In Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, Wipeout generated ABC’s best summer numbers in the hour in nearly 2 years – since 7/29/08.  Wipeout scored the series’ best numbers since July 2008 (7/29/08) with Total Viewers and Adults 18-34, and since May 2009 with Adults 18-49 (5/27/09).  The show equaled its highest-ever rating with Teens 12-17.  Against stiff established unscripted competition on NBC (opening hour of America’s Got Talent) and Fox (second hour of Hell’s Kitchen), the series debut of Downfall greatly improved the hour for ABC year to year, surging by 2.7 million viewers and by 58% in Adults 18-49 over the year-ago night.  In the 10 o’clock hour, the series premiere of ABC News’ Primetime: Mind Games earned second place among its broadcast rivals among Adults 18-49 to the second hour of NBC’s 2-hour America’s Got Talent.  Primetime: Mind Games also finished #2 against its network competition in the hour among Adults 25-54 and Women 18-49.  Primetime: Mind Games boosted the hour year to year for ABC by 18% in Total Viewers and by 18% in Adults 18-49 over the year-ago night with original programming. 
 
Wednesday: Building on its lead-in at 10pm in viewers and young adults, ABC’s special primetime broadcast Jimmy Kimmel Live: Twilight Saga: Total Eclipse of the Heart turned in summer-high time-period results for the Net in the with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.  Ranking #1 in the hour with young women, the JKL primetime special equaled the Net’s best summertime Women 18-34 number in the slot in nearly 2 years – since 7/30/08.  The special generated significant sampling and exposure for JKL in primetime, seeing increases of 71% in Total Viewers and 120% among Adults 18-49 over its late-night season averages.

Thursday: ABC’s Thursday lineup ranked #1 on the night among Adults 18-49, taking the Net to the top spot on the evening for the 4th week in a row and for the 5th time in the last 6 weeks.  ABC saw strong year-to-year improvement in Total Viewers (+1.1 million viewers) and Adults 18-49 (+19%), drawing the Net’s best non-sports summer numbers in nearly 4 years in Total Viewers and in over 3 years among young adults – since 8/24/06 and 5/31/07, respectively.  The Thursday premiere of ABC’s Wipeout-THURS won its time period in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, standing as Thursday’s #1 program in the key young adult demo.  In Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, Wipeout registered ABC’s strongest non-sports performance in the time period since November – since 11/19/09 and 11/12/09, respectively.  The series opener of Rookie Blue registered as the most-watched TV show in 9 o’clock hour.  Rookie Blue improved the hour year to year for ABC in Total Viewers (+1.5 million) and in Adults 18-49 (+12%) over original programming on the year-ago night (20/20 special).  In Adults 18-49, Rookie Blue stands as TV’s top-rated summer scripted series debut in over 1 year and ABC’s highest in nearly 6 years – since 5/26/09 and 7/18/04, respectively.  At 10 pm, ABC’s series debut of Boston Med earned second place in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, turning in the Net’s best performance in the hour with regular summer programming in over 1 year – since 5/28/09.   

Friday: ABC topped its network rivals on Friday in Adults 18-49, beating NBC by 8% and CBS and Fox by 30% each (tied).   ABC drew its largest summer audience on the night in over 2 years and matched its best Adults 18-49 summer performance in nearly 3 years – since 5/30/08 and 7/13/07, respectively.  ABC News’ 2-hour 20/20: Michael Jackson: After Life delivered the newsmagazine’s best numbers in 6 weeks in Total Viewers, Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 – since 5/14/10.  20/20 featured an exclusive look into Michael Jackson from those in his inner circle who have never spoken before, plus reports on his children, the investigation into his death, his money, and his legacy on the year anniversary after his death.   20/20 saw its audience increase from its first hour to its second hour by 1.7 million viewers, by 45% in Adults 18-49 and by 35% in Adults 25-54, winning the final hour of primetime on each Nielsen measure.   

Sunday: ABC finished #2 on Sunday evening against its broadcast competitors among Adults 18-49, improving 10% year to year in the key young adult sales demo.  ABC’s repeat airing of America’s Funniest Home Videos ranked #1 in the 7 o’clock hour against its original broadcast competition among young adults (AD18-34/AD18-49).  In addition, the replay of the broad-appealing ABC video clip-show took first place opposite its network competitors with Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11.  With the replay AFV, ABC was up in the hour over the year-ago night by 5% in Total Viewers and by 10% in Adults 18-49. Building on its lead-in at 8pm, ABC’s rebroadcast Extreme Makeover: Home Edition earned second place in its time period with Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.  The rebroadcast ABC unscripted series delivered the #1 position in the hour among Adults 25-54 and Women 18-49.  Versus the same night last summer, Home Edition’s numbers surged year to year by 1.0 million viewers and by 30% in Adults 18-49. During the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s Scoundrels beat the opening hour of The 37th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards and NBC’s original Law & Order: Criminal Intent among Women 18-34, Men 18-49 and Men 25-54.  From 10-11pm, ABC’s The Gates ran #2 against the Daytime Emmys and Criminal Intent with Adults 18-34 and Adults 18-49.

(source: ABC)