ABC Finishes No. 2 to Fox on Thursday in Viewers and Young Adults, Growing Over the Prior Week and Over the Same Night Last Year.
Taking Second to Fox’s “American Idol” at 8pm, ABC’s “Wipeout” Improves Its Time Slot Year to Year and Scores the Series’ Biggest Audience in 6 Weeks.
A Special Airing of ABC’s “Private Practice” in the 9pm Hour Beats Out CBS’ NCAA Basketball Coverage and NBC’s Comedies in Viewers and Adults 18-49.
ABC’s Repeat “Off the Map” Tops NBC’s Original Comedies in the 10pm Hour.
Thursday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
With a mix of repeat and original series, up against nearly all original programming on the other networks, ABC finished No. 2 on Thursday night to Fox in Total Viewers (5.8 million) and Adults 18-49 (1.7/5).
ABC was up over the year-ago Thursday in both viewers and young adults (5.7 million and 1.6/5 on 3/18/10).
Please Note: With the St. Patrick’s Day holiday and the change to Daylight Savings time, overall Adult 18-49 TV usage was down -7% from the prior Thursday (31.9 vs. 34.4).
Despite the decline in overall TV usage, ABC was up week to week in viewers and young adults, posting its best Thursday since February – since 2/24/11.
“Wipeout” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
ABC’s Spring “Wipeout” opener took second place in the 8 o’clock hour to Fox’s “American Idol” among Total Viewers (7.1 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.0/7), beating CBS NCAA Basketball coverage by 18% (1.7/5) and NBC’s original comedies (“Community”/”Perfect Couples”) by 33% (1.5/5) in the key young adult sales demo.
“Wipeout” generated the series’ most-watched telecast in 6 weeks and hit a 2-month high with Teens 12-17 (2.0/8) – since 2/3/11 and 1/20/11.
ABC’s Spring “Wipeout” improved the hour year to year in Total Viewers (+9%), Adults 18-49 (+5%) and Men 18-49 (+27%), over an original episode of “FlashForward” on the same night last year.
“Private Practice” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
A special 9:00 p.m. airing of ABC’s “Private Practice” took second place in its time period to Fox’s “Idol”-driven “Bones” in viewers (6.1 million) and young adults (1.9/6), beating NCAA Basketball (5.0 million and 1.8/5) on CBS and comedies on NBC (“The Office”/”Parks and Recreation” = 3.9 million and 1.6/5).
“Off the Map” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
During the 10 o’clock hour, a special repeat broadcast of ABC’s “Off the Map” (4.1 million) drew a larger overall audience than NBC’s original comedies (“30 Rock”/”Outsourced” = 3.9 million).
“Off the Map” delivered ABC’s biggest audience in the time slot in 3 weeks – since 2/24/11.
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), 3/17/11)
