Overall: During the week of 1/14/13, which included the return of Idol on Fox and the AFC Championship Game on CBS, ABC outdelivered NBC by 57% in Total Viewers and by 42% in Adults 18-49. The Net aired 7 of the Top 20 entertainment programs in Adults 18-49, including the #1 scripted program with Modern Family: Modern Family – #3, Grey’s Anatomy – #11, Scandal – #14, The Bachelor and Once Upon a Time tied at #15, while The Middle and Suburgatory tied at #19. ABC’s 20/20 was the week’s #1 newsmagazine in Adults 18-49.
Monday: With The Bachelor and Castle, ABC earned second place on Monday in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, outdelivering original lineups on both NBC (The Biggest Loser/Deception) and Fox (Bones/Bones). The Net dominated the night in Women 18-34, beating runner up CBS by 22%. ABC delivered an 8-week high on the evening among Adults 18-49 with regular programming – since 11/19/12. Up over its week-ago season premiere in Total Viewers (+9%) and Adults 18-49 (+4%), ABC’s The Bachelor finished #2 in its 2-hour time period to CBS’ comedy block in the key adult demo. The ABC unscripted series won its time slot among its core audience of Women 18-34 to finish as Monday’s #1 series for the 2nd week in a row. Head to head from 8-10pm, ABC’s The Bachelor beat out NBC’s The Biggest Loser 14 in Total Viewers (+19%) and Adults 18-34 (+16%), while tying in Adults 18-49. In addition to building week to week, The Bachelor improved over its 2nd telecast last season by 9% in Adults 18-49. During the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s Castle more than doubled the audience of NBC’s Deception (+122%) and led by strong margins with key Adults: AD18-49 (+19%) and AD25-54 (+26%). Building for its 2nd straight original, Castle posted its most-watched telecast since November 19, 2012.
Tuesday: In the 8pm half-hour, ABC’s replay Modern Family beat NBC’s original Off Their Rockers by 7% in Adults 18-49. At 8:30pm, ABC’s repeat Suburgatory outdrew Fox’s first-run Ben & Kate by 1.0 million viewers. In the 10 o’clock hour, the penultimate episode of ABC’s Private Practice was up over the prior week by 9% in Adults 18-49 to match its highest rating in nearly 2 months – since 11/20/12. In addition, the ABC drama grew its overall audience week to week (+3%) to attract its largest audience since early December – since 12/4/12.
Wednesday: Up against the season premiere of American Idol, ABC earned second place on Wednesday night in Adults 18-49. ABC’s Modern Family was Wednesday’s # 1 scripted TV show across all key Adult demos (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25-54). Opposite Idol from 8-10pm, ABC’s Wednesday comedy block retained 90% of its week-ago Adult 18-49 delivery. Delivering solid week to week Adult 18-49 retention against Idol in the 8pm hour, The Middle (96%) and The Neighbors (86%) made ABC the #1 net for scripted programming in the hour. Growing week to week in Teens 12-17, The Middle and The Neighbors each delivered their highest teen ratings since November 14, 2012. At 9pm, ABC’s Modern Family held 91% of its week-earlier Adult 18-49 number and beat out its nearest scripted competition in the half-hour by 54% (CBS’ Criminal Minds). In the 9:30pm half-hour, ABC’s Suburgatory retained 88% of its Adult 18-49 number week to week. Building its Adult 18-49 audience for its 4th straight original telecast, ABC’s Nashville ran neck-and-neck with CBS’ CSI for the 10 o’clock hour’s lead in Adults 18-49 (pacing within 1-tenth of a rating point and tied in audience share). The ABC freshman drama beat out CSI to win the hour among Adults 18-34 and key Women (W18-34/W18-49). Gaining week to week in Adults 18-49 (+5%), Nashville delivered its highest rating since its debut telecast on October 10, 2012.
Thursday: ABC took second place on Thursday in Adults 18-49 to Fox with the 2-hour season premiere of American Idol, outdelivering NBC’s original lineup on the night by 47%. Tripling its Adult 18-49 lead-in (+200%) against the second hour of Idol at 9pm, ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy dominated its first-run scripted time-period competition on NBC, leading by 76% over its comedies (The Office/1600 Penn). Despite facing Idol, Grey’s delivered better than 90% audience retention week to week in Total Viewers (95%), Adults 18-49 (94%), Adults 18-34 (100%) and Women 18-34 (100%). Exhibiting impressive lead-in retention out of an original Grey’s (90%/87%), ABC’s Scandal won the 10 o’clock hour by strong margins in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49. Scandal was the #1 series in Thursday’s 10pm hour for its 5th consecutive first-run telecast in Adults 18-49. Building for the 2nd straight week with Adults 18-34 (+5%) and Women 18-34 (+6%), Scandal earned new series highs in both demographics. Posting its 2nd-highest Adult 18-49 number, over the course of its last 4 original airings Scandal has delivered the series’ Top 4 highest-rated telecasts ever. The ABC sophomore drama continued to improve the hour by strong double digits over an original Private Practice on the year-ago night in viewers (+32%) and young adults (+24%).
Friday: With its comedies (Last Man Standing/Malibu Country), an encore Shark Tank and 20/20, ABC beat NBC with an original 2-hour Dateline by 18% in Adults 18-49 and Fox with the 2-hour series finale of Fringe by 30%. From 8-9pm, Last Man Standing and Malibu Country delivered strong audience retention from the first half-hour to the second half-hour in viewers (89%) and young adults (92%). The ABC comedies led the first hour of Fox’s Fringe finale by 18% in Adults 18-49. In the 9 o’clock hour, ABC’s repeat Shark Tank topped the first hour of NBC’s original Dateline by 36% in Adults 18-49 and the final hour of Fringe by 50%. Shark Tank delivered its 2nd-best repeat performance ever in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.
Saturday: From 8-9pm, ABC’s 20/20 Saturday delivered the Net’s best numbers in the hour with non-sports programming in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 in 9 months – since 4/28/12.
