* Prime: Up against Fox’s MLB AL Playoff Game 5, featuring teams from the Top 2 US markets (NY Yankees-LA Angeles), ABC won Thursday for the 5th week in a row among Adults 18-49 (4.0/11), beating its competition by wide margins and holding even week to week despite facing post-season baseball.
* 8-9pm: ABC freshman FlashForward finished second against its non-sports competition in the 8 o’clock hour to CBS’ veteran Survivor in Adults 18-49 (3.0/9), leading NBC’s comedies (Community/Parks and Recreation) by 50% (2.0/6). Among Adults 18-34 (2.5/8), FlashForward stood as the #1 non-sports program in hour, ranking as the top-rated series in the slot for the 5th week in a row. The ABC freshman led the hour overall with Women 18-34 for the 5th straight week. Despite increased competition in the hour week to week from baseball and Survivor, FlashForward increased its overall audience by 8% from the prior Thursday (9.8 million vs. 9.1 million).
* The top gainer for any new series this season in DVR playback, FlashForward surges over the first-reported numbers by 1.9 million viewers and by 8-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point (+21%) from the Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
* 9-10pm: Growing week to week and dominating the 9 o’clock hour, Grey’s Anatomy finished as Thursday’s #1 TV show in both Total Viewers (14.7 million) and Adults 18-49 (5.2/14). In fact the ABC drama registered as Thursday’s #1 TV show in Adults 18-49 for the 5th consecutive week. Grey’s was up week to week by nearly 1 million viewers and by 4% in Adults 18-49.
* TV’s most-popular show in DVR playback, Grey’s Anatomy jumps over the first-reported numbers by 3.0 million viewers and by an additional 1.5 Adult 18-49 rating points (+23%) from the Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
* 10-11pm: The #1 non-sports show in the 10 o’clock hour, ABC’s Private Practice qualified as the highest-rated series in its time period for the 4th week running in Adults 18-49 (3.7/10), beating CBS’ The Mentalist replay 37% (2.7/8) and NBC’s Jay Leno by 131% (1.6/5). The ABC drama won its hour among Adults 18-34 and also dominated across the Women demos (W18-34/W18-49/W25-54)
* Like its lead-in, Private Practice sees impressive DVR gains from the first-reported numbers, shooting up by 1.7 million viewers and by 9-tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point (+20%) from the Live + Same Day Numbers to the Live + 7 Day DVR finals.
(source: ABC)
