Surging Over the Same Night Last Year by 1.3 Million Viewers and by 56% In Adults 18-49, ABC is Up Year to Year for the 3rd Straight Summer Wednesday
Back-to-Back “Modern Family” Repeats Defeat CBS’ Replay “Criminal Minds” In Adults 18-49 at 9pm, as the ABC Comedy is the Night’s No. 1 Scripted TV Show
In the 10pm Hour, “ABC News Special: Caught in the Act” is the No. 1 Non-Sports Show, Drawing the Net’s Biggest Audience in the Time Slot in More Than 4 Months
Wednesday Night (8:00-11:00 p.m.)
With 4 comedy repeats and the “ABC News Special: Caught in the Act,” the Network was up year to year for the 3rd consecutive Wednesday this summer, surging over the year-ago evening (6/16/10) by 1.3 million viewers (4.5 million vs. 3.2 million) and by 56% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/4 vs. 0.9/3) with the same mix of repeat and original programming.
ABC grew its numbers week to week in both Total Viewers (+10%) and Adults 18-49 (+8%).
“Modern Family”/”Modern Family” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
In the 9 o’clock hour, back-to-back repeat telecasts of ABC’s “Modern Family” beat out CBS’ replay “Criminal Minds” by 15% in Adults 18-49 (1.5/4 vs. 1.3/4). In fact, ABC’s 9:00 p.m. repeat “Modern Family” stood as Wednesday’s No. 1 scripted TV show in the key young adult sales demo.
“ABC News Special: Caught in the Act” (10:00-11:00 p.m.)
During the 10 o’clock hour against the high-rated deciding Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the “ABC News Special: Caught in the Act” finished as the No. 1 non-sports program in Total Viewers (5.1 million) and key Adult demos: Adults 18-49 (1.6/5) and Adults 25-54 (2.1/5). The special, anchored by Chris Cuomo, showcased incredible events all caught on tape.
The ABC News special attracted the Net’s biggest audience in the time period in over 4 months and qualified as its 2nd largest summer audience in the hour since 2009 – since 2/9/11 and 9/2/09, respectively.
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 41% 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), 6/15/11)
