Against strong sports-led competition on the evening from an ultra high-rated Sunday Night Football contest (Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles) and CBS’ NFL-overrun fueled line up, ABC hit Sunday season highs in Adults 18-34 and across all key Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54).
Despite starting out the evening with a rebroadcast of the Once Upon a Time pilot in the 7pm hour, ABC was up over the year-ago evening’s all-original lineup by double-digit percentages with young Adults and key Women: Adults 18-49 (+14%), Adults 18-34 (+12%), Women 18-34 (+23%) and Women 18-49 (+21%).
More than tripling its Adult 18-49 lead-in at 8pm (+225%) and building its audience throughout its broadcast opposite Sunday Night Football and CBS’ NFL-overrun driven programming (60 Minutes/Amazing Race), ABC’s Once Upon a Time finished as the definitive #1 non-sports program in its time period. From 8-9pm, ABC self starter Once Upon a Time beat out CBS’ football-driven combo of 60 Minutes and Amazing Race by 11% and Fox’s The Simpsons into the series premiere of Allen Gregory by 22% among Adults 18-49, while winning its hour outright among Women 18-49. Despite the fierce competition, the new ABC drama gained nearly 1 million viewers and 8% among Adults 18-49 from its first half-hour to its second half-hour.
Based on the Fast Affiliate ratings, ABC’s Once Upon a Time retained an impressive 100% of its big week-ago series premiere audience in Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34, while growing over its debut telecast with Teens 12-17.
Once Upon a Time stood as Sunday’s #1 entertainment TV show for the 2nd week in a row among Adults 18-49.
Growing its numbers for the 2nd week running, ABC’s Desperate Housewives paced well ahead of its non-sports competition in the 9 o’clock hour among Adults 18-49, defeating CBS’ Amazing Race/The Good Wife (for the 6th week running) by 35% and Fox’s animated comedies (Family Guy/The Cleveland Show) by 22%.
Rising in viewers and young adults for the 2nd straight week, ABC’s Desperate Housewives marked best-since-premiere results on both Nielsen measures. The ABC drama tied season-high numbers with key Women (W18-49/W25-54).
During the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s Pan Am built week to week in Adults 18-49 (+6%), Adults 18-34 (+7%), Women 18-34 (+11%) and Women 18-49 (+8%), equaling its highest ratings in 4 weeks (since 10/2/11) across each Nielsen measure. In fact, it was the new drama’s 2nd consecutive week of audience gains with Adults 18-34 and key Women (W18-34/W18-49).
(Source: ABC)
