ABC Marks Strong Year-to-Year Wednesday Gains in Viewers and Young Adults.
For the 2nd Consecutive Week, ABC’s Back-to-Back “The Middle” Repeats Beat Out NBC’s Original “Minute To Win It” by Wide Margins.
Marking its 3rd-Strongest-Ever Replay Numbers Against an “American Idol,” ABC’s “Modern Family” Takes Full Control of its Repeat Competition at 9pm.
Opposite the Final Half-Hour of “American Idol,” ABC’s “Mr. Sunshine” Builds Week to Week by 8% in Adults 18-34 and by 13% in Women 18-34.
“Off the Map” Generates Dramatic Year-to-Year Time-Period Growth for ABC.
Wednesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
Versus the same Wednesday last year (3/17/10), when it also aired a mix of 3 repeat and 2 original programs, ABC posted double-digit percentage increases in both Total Viewers (+24% – 4.7 million vs. 3.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (+15% – 1.5/4 vs. 1.3/4).
“The Middle”/”The Middle” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
From 8:00-9:00 p.m., against the first hour of Fox’s “American Idol” and CBS’ “Survivor: Redemption Island,” ABC’s back-to-back repeats of “The Middle” dominated NBC’s original “Minute To Win It” for the 2nd week in a row, beating the NBC gamer by 42% in Total Viewers (4.7 million vs. 3.3 million) and by 33% in Adults 18-49 (1.2/4 vs. 0.9/3).
“Modern Family” (9:00-9:30 p.m.)
At 9:00 p.m., ABC’s replay “Modern Family” took full control of its repeat competition, topping NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” by wide margins in Total Viewers (+93% – 5.8 million vs. 3.0 million) and Adults 18-49 (+175% – 2.2/6 vs. 0.8/2).
In viewers and young adults, “Modern Family” marked its 3rd-highest-ever repeat numbers against an installment of “American Idol.”
“Mr. Sunshine” (9:30-10:00 p.m.)
Opposite the final segment of “Idol” in the 9:30 p.m. half-hour, ABC’s “Mr. Sunshine” built week to week by 8% in Adults 18-34 (1.4/4 vs. 1.3/4) and by 13% in Women 18-34 (1.8/5 vs. 1.6/5).
The new comedy improved its time period for ABC over the year-ago night by 1.1 million viewers (4.6 million vs. 3.5 million) and by 38% in Adults 18-49 (1.8/5 vs. 1.3/4).
“Off the Map” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC’s “Off the Map” ranked No. 2 against its CBS and NBC drama competition in the 10 o’clock hour among Adults 18-34 (1.1/3-tie) and key Women: W18-34 (1.5/5) and W18-49 (1.8/5-tie).
The ABC freshman drama once again delivered year-to-year time-period increases, boosting the hour by 27% in Total Viewers (4.2 million vs. 3.3 million) and by 27% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/4 vs. 1.1/3) from the year-ago night with original drama programming (“Ugly Betty”).
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 40% currently, from 36% at the same point in 2010. 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: ABC – The Nielsen Company (Fast Affiliate, Live + Same Day Ratings), 3/16/11)
