With the season opener of Wife Swap, Grey’s and the return of Scandal (first original since 2/21), ABC ranked #1 on Thursday in Adults 18-49 (tying Fox with American Idol and Glee). Among Adults 18-49, ABC tied its top-rated Thursday with series programming since October 4, 2012.
Up sharply over its last season premiere (on 4/2/10) in Total Viewers (+43%) and Adults 18-49 (+42%), ABC’s Wife Swap opener topped all of the telecasts in its previous season to earn its best numbers since April 2009 – since 4/17/09. From start to finish the ABC unscripted show gained 8% in viewers and 20% in young adults, despite facing Idol in the hour. Wife Swap delivered ABC’s highest Adult 18-49 rating in the time period with series programming in 5 months – since 10/18/12.
Shooting up from its lead-in at 9pm (+71%), ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy emerged as Thursday’s #1 TV show in Adults 18-49, topping Idol on the night for the first time ever. Grey’s won the 9 o’clock hour in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. Gaining week to week in viewers (+11%) and young adults (+12%), Grey’s delivered its most-watched telecast in 10 weeks – since 1/10/13.
On its return, ABC’s Scandal won the 10 o’clock hour in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. In fact Scandal has been the #1 show in the hour in Adults 18-49 on 7 of its last 8 original telecasts. In addition, Scandal nearly tied Idol on the night in Adults 18-49 and beat the Fox show with Adults 18-34. Scandal ranked as the #1 broadcast program in primetime with 191k tweets, topping American Idol by 68% (113k). Delivering its best-ever retention of Grey’s in Total Viewers (95%), Scandal marked the series’ most-watched telecast ever.
