ABC has impressive Fall sweep growth up young adults

0

ABC Exhibits Impressive Year-Over-Year Audience Retention During Fall 2011


Posting Across-the-Board Increases, ABC is the Only Network to Show Year-to-Year Improvement in the Monday-Friday 10 O’clock Hour

ABC Marks Big Year-Over-Year Gains with Key Returning Series and New Series

In Adults 18-49, the Net Airs the Fall’s No. 1 Scripted Series in “Modern Family,” The No. 1 Drama in “Grey’s” and the No. 1 New Drama in “Once Upon a Time”

ABC is No. 1 with High-Income Young Adults, Airing 6 of the Top 15 Series

ABC is Home to the Top 4 TV Shows on the Major Nets for “Family Coviewing”

ABC Series Rank Among the Most Popularly Recorded and Played Back

Primetime:  Fall 2011 (September Launch-November – 9/19/11-11/27/11)
During fall 2011, based on all programming (10 complete weeks), ABC finished as the No. 2 network in Total Viewers and across all key Women: W18-34, W18-49 and W25-54.  Excluding sports, ABC ran No. 2 in Total Viewers, Adults 18-34 and Adults 25-54, while ranking No. 1 across all key Women (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).  Among Adults 18-49, ABC led an NFL-inflated NBC by 8%, and excluding sports, overpowered NBC by 67%.

ABC Demonstrates Impressive Audience Retention Year to Year:  On average, ABC grew its overall audience during the fall (9.99 million vs. 9.95 million), while retaining 100% of its year-ago delivery with Adults 18-49 (2.8/8).  The Net was also up for the fall with Adults 25-54 (+3%) and Teens 12-17 (+8%).  Looking across its schedule, ABC posted increases in 57% of its half-hours in Total Viewers, and was up in 45% of its half-hours in Adults 18-49.

ABC is the Only Net Up in the 10 O’clock Hour, Posting Substantial Fall-to-Fall Gains: On Monday-Friday from 10:00-11:00 p.m. as a lead-in to affiliates’ late-local news, ABC delivered double-digit year-to-year improvement in Total Viewers (+13%), Adults 18-49 (+12%) and Adults 25-54 (+12%). In fact, ABC was the only net to post gains on any of the three Nielsen measures.

ABC’s Posts Gains Over Last Fall with a Number of Returning and New Shows: Running as some of the fastest-growing returning TV shows for the season, ABC’s “The Middle” (+10%/+17%) and “Modern Family” (+14%/+21%) were up nicely.  The Net’s key new programs improved their time slots by wide margins for ABC year to year: “Last Man Standing” (+39%/+46%), “Body of Proof” (+27%/+14%), “Suburgatory” (+33%/+44%), “Revenge” (+89%/+140%) and “Once Upon a Time” (+66%/+114%).  In addition, ABC’s “Castle” grew its overall audience by 8% over last fall.

ABC’s Wednesday Night Comedy Block Grows for the 2nd Straight Fall: For the 2nd year in a row, ABC’s Wednesday 8:00-10:00 p.m. comedy block scored double-digit percentage gains year over year with Total Viewers (+12%) and Adults 18-49 (+18%). ABC’s Wednesday 2-hour comedy block towered over NBC’s 8:00-10:00 p.m. Thursday comedy block (+6.0 million viewers and +64% in Adults 18-49).

ABC Claims 4 of the Fall’s Top 10 New Series, Including the Top 2 New Drama:  ABC aired 4 of the Top 10 new shows for the fall in Adults 18-49, including the Top 2 new dramas:  “Once Upon a Time” – No. 3 (No. 1 new drama), “Suburgatory” and “Revenge” (No. 2 new drama) tied at No. 6 and “Last Man Standing” – No. 9.  In addition among Total Viewers, ABC’s “Last Man Standing” qualified as TV’s No. 2 most-watched new comedy overall, behind only CBS’ “2 Broke Girls,” and the No. 1 Tuesday comedy, with a 1.2 million viewer advantage over Fox’s “New Girl.” 

Fall’s Highest-Rated TV Series: ABC delivered 8 of the Top 30 TV shows on the broadcast nets this fall with Adults 18-49, including the No. 1 comedy with “Modern Family” and the No. 1 drama with “Grey’s:” “Modern Family” – No. 2 (No. 1 comedy/scripted series), “Grey’s Anatomy” – No. 6 (No. 1 drama), “Once Upon a Time” – No. 12, “Desperate Housewives” – No. 23, “Happy Endings” – No. 26, while “DWTS,” “Suburgatory” and “Revenge” tied at No. 28.  The Net broadcasts 3 of the Top 10 most-watched TV shows overall and the No. 1 unscripted series: “DWTS” – No. 4 (No. 1 unscripted series), “Modern Family” – No. 7 and “DWTS: The Results” – No. 8.
 
ABC is a Strong Draw with Upscale Young Adults: Among Adults 18-49 in homes with $100K+ Annual Income in the non-sports numbers, ABC (3.60 rating) ranked No. 1 for the fall, leading CBS by 9% (3.29), Fox by 14% (3.16) and NBC by 63% (2.21).  ABC claimed 6 of the Top 15 highest-rated regular TV shows among high-income young adults (most for any network), including the No. 1 series overall, the No. 1 drama overall and the Top 2 new dramas: “Modern Family” (13.62 rating) – No. 1, “Grey’s Anatomy” (6.79) – No. 7 (No. 1 drama), “Happy Endings” (5.46) – No. 10, “Revenge” (5.19) – No. 11 (No. 1 new drama), “Once Upon a  Time” (4.90) – No. 13 (No. 2 new drama)  and “Suburgatory” (4.86) – No. 15. Reporting an annual median income of $83,000 for its young adult audience, ABC’s “Modern Family” drew the highest median income among any broadcast series this season.
 
ABC is Home to the Top Broadcast Programs for Family Coviewing: Led by “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC was home to 7 of the Top 15 programs on the major networks during the fall in Family Coviewing, including the Top 4 shows.  In addition to broadcasting the No. 1 show overall with “AFV,” the Net claimed the No. 1 drama with “Once Upon a Time” and the Top 2 live-action comedies with “The Middle” and “Suburgatory.” Season-to-date Family Coviewing Rankings (Percentage of Adults 18-49 watching with Teens 12-17 or Kids 2-11 present): “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (27%) – No. 1, “The Middle” (20%) – No. 2, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (19%) and “You Deserve It” (19%) tied at No. 3, “Once Upon a Time” (18%) – No. 7, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition-9P” (17%) – No. 9 and “Suburgatory” (16%) – No. 12. 

ABC Series Among Most Popularly Recorded and Played Back: On average during primetime, ABC’s numbers grew from the originally reported Live + Same Day averages to the finalized Live + 7 Day ratings by 1.3 million viewers (8.9 million to 10.2 million) and by 21% in Adults 18-49 (2.4/6 to 2.9/8). ABC series remain among the most popularly recorded and played back TV shows. “Modern Family” and “Grey’s Anatomy” were the Top 2 biggest gainers among Adults 18-49, picking up 2.4 rating points and 1.6 rating points, respectively. With a significant rise in DVR penetration year to year (38% to 43%), a total of 8 of ABC’s series added more than 2.0 million viewers from their initially reported totals via time-shifted viewing, including the biggest overall gainer with “Modern Family”: “Modern Family” (+4.66 million), “Grey’s” (+3.18 million), “Castle” (+2.96 million), “Body of Proof” (+2.69 million), “Once Upon a Time” (+2.52 million), “Revenge” (+2.48 million), “Private Practice” (+2.25 million) and “Desperate Housewives” (+2.06 million). Among Adults 18-49, 6 of ABC’s series registered substantial ratings increases of 1.0 rating point or more: “Modern Family” (+2.4 rating – top gainer overall), “Grey’s” (+1.6 rating – biggest drama gainer), “Once Upon a Time” (+1.1 rating), “Private Practice” (+1.1 rating), “Revenge” (+1.0 rating) and “Desperate Housewives” (+1.0 rating).

(Source: ABC – The Nielsen Company, (National Most Current Program Ratings), 9/19/11-11/27/11, or as dated.  Upscale data based on regular non-sports programming (9/19/11-11/27/11).  Coviewing data based on all programming (9/19/11-11/27/11).  DVR Playback based on regular original telecasts only, 9/19/11-11/13/11)