ABC opened solid w/ winter season 'Wipeout'

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Marking a Season High on the Night, ABC Wins Thursday Among Adults 18-49.


Opening its Winter Season at No. 1 Among Key Demographics, ABC’s “Wipeout” Generates the Series’ Biggest Audience Ever.

“Wipeout” Scores ABC’s Strongest Non-Sports Performance in the Hour in Well Over 1 Year in Viewers and Young Adults and in Nearly 8 Years with Teens 12-17.

Drawing its Biggest Audience Since Early November, ABC’s “Grey’s” Stands As the No. 1 Series in its Hour with Adults 18-49 for the 11th Straight Airing.

“Private Practice” is the No. 1 Scripted Show in the 10 O’clock Hour Among Adults 18-34 and Across All Key Women Demographics.

Thursday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC won Thursday night in Adults 18-49, besting CBS with its all-original line up by 6% (3.6/10 vs. 3.4/9). 

Hitting a season high on the evening in Adults 18-49, the Net generated its best non-sports Thursday performance since last May – since 5/20/10.

“Wipeout” (8:00-9:00 p.m.)
ABC’s Winter premiere of “Wipeout” opened at No. 1 in the 8 o’clock hour among Adults 18-49 (3.7/11 – tied w/CBS), giving the Net its first No. 1 ranking in the time period this season with regular programming against CBS’ original comedies (“Big Bang Theory”/”$#! My Dad Says”).  The ABC unscripted series also ran No. 1 in the hour with Adults 18-34, key Women (W18-34/W18-49), Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11.  In fact it was Thursday’s No. 1 TV show with Kids 2-11, qualifying as broadcast TV’s top-rated regular primetime telecast of the 2010-11 season.
  
In viewers (11.6 million) and young adults (3.7/11), “Wipeout” produced ABC’s strongest non-sports performance in the time period in well over 1 year – since 9/24/09.  The broad-appealing series generated the Net’s highest non-sports Teen 12-17 (3.5/12) number in the hour in nearly 8 years – since 2/6/03.  Furthermore among Kids 2-11 (4.4/15), it equaled ABC’s strongest number in the hour in close to 9 years – since 2/14/02.

“Wipeout” opened its Winter season with the series’ most-watched telecast ever, while matching its 2nd-best-ever number with Adults 18-49.  “Wipeout” also achieved series-highs with Teens 12-17 and Kids 2-11.

“Grey’s Anatomy” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Up from its most-recent original airing in early December, ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” dominated Thursday’s 9 o’clock hour in Adults 18-49, registering as the No. 1 series in the slot for its 11th consecutive telecast this season.  Grey’s beat out its nearest competition in the time period by 27% (4.2/11 vs. 3.3/9 – CBS’ original “CSI”).  Building on its last first-run broadcast (on 12/2/10) in Total

Viewers (+6%) and Adults 18-49 (+5%), Grey’s drew its biggest overall audience since early-November and hit its highest Adult 18-49 number since mid-November – since 11/4/10 and 11/18/10, respectively.     

“Private Practice” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
ABC’s “Private Practice” stood as the No. 1 scripted show in the 10 o’clock hour with Adults 18-34 (2.1/6) and across all key Women demographics:  W18-34 (3.2/9), W18-49 (4.2/11) and W25-54 (5.0/12).

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 38% currently, from 34% 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), 1/6/11)