Opposite Fox with a 2-hour American Idol comprising its entire Wednesday lineup, ABC finished in a virtual-tie with CBS (with the Survivor premiere) in Adults 18-49, pacing within 1-tenth of a rating point. ABC beat out fifth-place NBC on the night by 115%. In addition, the Net ran #2 to Fox on the night with Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Women 18-34.
* Wednesday’s dominant #1 scripted show in Adults 18-49, ABC’s Modern Family beat out Idol for the 2nd week in a row with Men 18-34 to stand as the night’s #1 show in the hard-to-reach male demo.
* As CBS, NBC and Fox lost ground year to year, ABC shot up over the year-ago Wednesday by 1.2 million viewers and by 22% in Adults 18-49.
Growing year to year at 8pm against the Survivor opener and Idol, ABC’s The Middle outdelivered its NBC comedy competition (Whitney) by 3.6 million viewers and by 56% in Adults 18-49. The ABC comedy took second to Idol in Adults 18-34 and Women 18-34, outrunning Survivor by 21% and 18%, respectively.
* The Middle was up over the same night last year in both viewers (+3%) and young adults (+9%).
Like its lead-in, ABC’s Suburgatory towered over its comedy competition in the 8:30pm half-hour, once again topping NBC’s Are You There, Chelsea? by enormous margins in viewers (+97%) and young adults (+71%). Impressively, the ABC freshman comedy defeated the second half of the Survivor opener by double digits across the 18-34 demographics: AD18-34 (+20%), M18-34 (+33%) and W18-34 (+11%).
* Suburgatory substantially improved its time period for ABC over the year-ago Wednesday against Idol and Survivor by 17% in Total Viewers and by 33% in Adults 18-49.
Scoring its 2nd-highest-ever number against an Idol telecast, ABC’s Modern Family nearly doubled its lead-in at 9pm to beat its nearest scripted competition in the slot by 57% in Adults 18-49 (CBS’ Criminal Minds).
* Building over the same night last year in viewers (+6%) and young adults (+9%), ABC’s Modern Family marked the series’ 2nd-strongest performance to date opposite an American Idol on both counts.
During the 9:30pm half-hour, ABC’s Happy Endings ranked #2 to Idol in Adults 18-34, Women 18-34 and key Men (M18-34/M18-49).
Finishing a strong #2 during the 10pm hour, ABC freshman drama Revenge dominated NBC’s veteran L&O: SVU in viewers (+31%) and young adults (+41%). In addition, the Disney-owned drama once again finished #1 in the hour with Adults 18-34 and key Women (W18-34/W18-49).
* ABC’s Revenge produced huge year-over-year improvement in Wednesday’s 10 o’clock hour, jumping by 77% in Total Viewers and by 60% in Adults 18-49 over first-run drama programming on the year-ago evening (Off the Map on 2/16/11).
(Source: ABC)
